The Interloper's Adventure
by iDiesol
Summary: After surviving a near death experience, A Imperial Stormtrooper is sent into a world that had not been graced with the eternal war of the 41st millennium, will he survive this new world or will he succumb to the galactic power that hungers for more. Rated M for violence, gore and foul language.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**"Prologue"**

_Everything hurts_... that's what Junior Sergeant Aaron "Krask" Webb felt when he woke up in the morning. _Bloody hell that techpriest is gonna get me killed if he keeps making me help with all of his chores._ He took a moment to glance around the room he was in, a makeshift barrack inside one of the cavern in which his squad and the other guard units that have been drafted for this mission resided. _Most of the boys are already up. _He laid back and struggled to suppress a sigh. _All of this work over a bloody hellgun... I mean, I understand its mechanicus property but it wasn't my fault that it got ripped in half by that animal back in the jungle... How did it end up like this?_ He thought to himself as he started to reminiscence.

It all started a couple of weeks ago when his squad of the 442nd "Alphonian Vipers" of the Tempestus Scions and some elements from the 24th Cadian alongside a mismatch of ecclesiarchal crusaders got drafted on the orders of some Inquisitor Augustin Piof of the Ordo Malleus to cleanse a planet by the name of Bathona in the Segmentum Obscurus. At first he thought that the forces amassed were not enough to cleanse a whole planet but then realised that most of the planet was not inhabited, save for a couple of areas populated by chaos worshipers. The campaign ended by the half of week two and by the end of the week they realised this was not just a simple "exterminate the heretic population so that the our people can move in" type mission as at the end of the week several ships of the mechanicus had entered the system and declared that all units on planet side to remain steadfast as this mission had only just began. Turns out the inquisitor had struck a deal with the mechanicus to help them in their search for lost tech in exchange for exclusive millitary equipment for his needs. The next couple of weeks were spent patrolling around, shooting at the local wildlife and digging around in the mountains for the techpriests.

It all went downhill six days ago when, out on patrol in one of the surrounding jungles his squad got ambushed by a large reptilian creature which managed to get the drop on them..._ Its not like we could do a thing to hide ourselves in that jungle... our armour is painted gray for urban combat, not for jungle combat..._ it ambushed them deep in the jungle appearing literally from underneath them, two of his squad mates were sent flying in the bushes while Aaron and the other two opened fire on the beast. Despite the concentrated and continuous fire from three hellguns the creatures seemed to simply shrug of the shots as if they were nothing as it made its way towards the three. Aaron and the others spread out around the beast as it decided that Aaron looked the tastiest and charged him at full speed. He jumped to the side and nearly got hit by the beast as it passed him, regardless of his action, it mattered not as the beast was on him immediately biting and scratching at the poor man despite the fact that the rest of his team started unloading upon it. Aaron fought with all his might to not get bit or scratched by the creature as he wiggled around on the ground holding his hellgun up as to keep the creature from dropping on him. He fought for a couple of seconds before the creature bit down on the midsection of the gun ripping it in half and falling down on him. At that moment Aaron knew he was going to die, yet in the last seconds of his expected lifespan the creature started screaming and wiggling around trying to get something off its back, and then he saw that it was one my squadmates Private Jenkings "Madman" living up to his nickname as he rode upon the creature with his combat knife imbedded in the creatures back and a melta charge in his hands. "GET DOWN!" he warned us as he planted the charge and jumped off, the madman must've activated it while he was still riding the creature as it detonated the moment he hit the ground. More then half the creature blew up and showered us with charred pieces of meat and gore while the rest of the creature simply melted right before their eyes.

After that encounter they simply went back to base with Aaron going to the guards medic to checkup on any injuries, other than a couple of bruises and scratches he was fine, after that came the berating of the techpriests as they were angry that one of their newly built hellguns, delivered straight from the local forge was destroyed by mere wildlife, in fact they were so angry that they didn't even bother to give him a new weapon, so for the rest of the week Aaron spent doing chores for the mechanicus and asking the other guardsmen if they had any spares. It all came around when the commander of one of the chimeras agreed to give him his lasgun. When he saw it he wanted to stangle the mechanicus until they would give him an actual weapon. What the commander gave him was one of the lasgun carbines, _what was its name again?_ he thought to himself _a voss patern lasgun, designed for tank crew units and being the standard issue of the Armageddon Steel legion_ the only redeeming facts were that it was a lot more lighter than his hellgun and it was fully automatic. _Beggars can't be choosers _he thought to himself as he took the gun from the commander.

And so here he lies in the present, after a week of constant grueling tasks and patrols, tired and annoyed he pushed himself to a sitting position on the side of his bed as he shook away his sleepiness "Time to get up." he softly spoke to himself as he got up and prepared himself for another day of hell.

* * *

Aaron moved through the cavern towards their makeshift messhall, wondering just what the mechanicus hoped to recover from this place, all they've uncovered so far have been nothing but giant boulders and one or two millennia old vases, _what got them so startled about this place? _his thoughts were interrupted as he reached the messhall.

Inside he found a good chunk of the soldiers stationed upon the planet, most of them eating the disgusting rations they were supplied with while others chatted away. Aaron spotted his squad on one of the makeshift tables on the left side, they were having a hushed conversation with a couple of guardsmen, actually most if not all soldiers were having the same type of conversation. As he made his way towards his squad Aaron pieced together what they were all talking about. Apparently word was that the techpriests found something in the dig, what they found he didn't know but he hoped to be enlightened by his friends. As he arrived his squad leader lieutenant Harvey Stone threw him a protein bar.

"Eat it, you're gonna need the extra energy"

Aaron caught it just in time as he reached the table

"Whats the big news, sir?" he asked eager to know what the whole fuss was about.

His squad leader inhaled deeply before exhaling as he replied "I don't like to repeat myself you know. I've told this story three times already this morning, you're lucky its you Krask and not some random guardsmen as i would tell them off immediately." he remained silent for a couple of seconds before continuing "Last night, while digging in section C the ground floor gave up under the digger unit and they fell in a large underground cave. from the incident resulted the death of six techpriests and over three dozen servitors and the loss of expensive mining equipment..." he took a moment before his mouth formed a small smirk "Brother Valentin was one of them."

That brought the attention of all of the troopers at the table as they set their eyes on Aaron "Wasn't that the cogboy that kept pestering you about helping him the equipment?" one of the guardsmen asked Aaron

"Yep, that's the one, although I never meant him any harm, for how insufferable and annoying he was he didn't deserve to die like that." Aaron replied before turning his gaze toward his officer prompting him to continue "From what I heard they found something promising down below but nobody outside the mechanicus knows and now that a large part of the digger unit died off they cut the patrols in half and drafted a good chunk of the guard including us to help them get back into the 'rhythm'." Aaron and a couple of troopers snorted and grumbled under their breaths

"I share your sentiment men but alas, duty calls" he replied and turned towards the rest of the troopers "Eat well, for this day is gonna be long and hard." he spoke aloud. Seeing as the conversation ended Aaron returned to eating his protein bar before eating several others. The rest of the morning was spent in relative silence as the men prepared for mining duty.

* * *

When he heard he was drafted for mining duty Aaron expected to be handed a pickaxe and be told to mine with the rest of the men. He didn't expect that his squad was elevated to the position of overseers. Each stormtrooper was handed a group of 9-10 guardsmen and was told to oversee the them work, even with that number the work was so hard that even Aaron had to pitch in a couple of times to help them out and after twelve hours of constant work his men could be considered walking corpses.

It also didn't help with all the fact that they were forced to wear their full kit plus the mining equipment which only added extra weight. Aaron turned his head towards four of his men as they handled a rather heavy looking boulder "Careful with that rock boys, don't let it fall on your legs." He spoke to soldiers as they threw the boulder in a large pile they formed in their section, one of them tripping just as they threw it, this prompted the other guardsmen to stop what they were doing and gaze upon the fallen soldier, sighing deeply Aaron made his way to the downed soldier, stopping next to him and gazed down at him.

"Get up soldier." He ordered the downed soldier

"I...I can't... sir... I'm too tired..." he replied taking extra effort to even speak

"Get up soldier." Aaron insisted

"Sir... Please understand... I'm not built for this." the soldier pleaded. Aaron took a deep breath before crouching to be on the troopers level

"There have been four guardsmen executed for laxity and tiredness... don't be the fifth one, now get up." he insisted one last time

"Sir... Please I..." he was cut off as Aaron got to his feet and drew his lasgun

"One last chance, get up!" he ordered as he aimed his gun at the soldiers head, terror griped the man as he stared down the barrel of the gun, a few seconds passed as the man refused to turn his gaze from his would be death, his death trance was broken when Aaron broke the silence as he raised his voice "GET UP EMPEROR DAMNIT!" he shouted at the man

The soldier suddenly had an energy surge as he started to climb to his feet in a semi-shambler fashion which prompted Aaron to lower his gun and pick up a pickaxe that was lying around

When the soldier got to his feet he turned to look at the stormtrooper with uncertainty in his eyes "Good job" Aaron said as he thrusted the tool in his hands "Now get back to work trooper, we have less than an hour before the shift ends and we'll go back to normal patrols so stop whining and get with the program for the Emperor's sake." he said as he turned to see that all of the guardsmen had stopped working and were looking directly at him

"What are you all looking at? Get back to work!" he ordered as the rest made themselves scarce. Aaron took a deep breath as he turned to look at nothing in particular. He hated the idea of executing soldiers in particular but even he had to agree that in some situations making an example out of someone was the best choice to keep the men going. He struggle to hold back a sigh as he shook his head _This isn't one of those situations... they're running us ragged just because their servitors kicked the bucket..._ he shook his head again as he praised the Emperor for giving that man the power to stand again and not get executed.

He turned and started walking towards his overseeing position when he abruptly stopped as the ground suddenly started shacking as tremors were sent throughout the cave _When did we start using explosives to dig? _Aaron mused to himself as he contacted his officer "Lieutenant, what in the warp was that?" he spoke into his helmet integrated vox

"That came from the underbelly of section C, that's where the inquisitor and the techpriests were investigating whatever ruins they stumbled upon, but I didn't see them carry any explosives inside... Whatever caused that wasn't us" Harvey's reply making Aaron tense as he gripped his lasgun more tightly

"Could it be just an earthquake?" Aaron asked hoping for the best

"Negative Krask, it was too brief and violent to be just an earthquake, i believe-" Harvey was cut off as the sounds of battle started echoing through the caverns "It comes from Johann's section!"

As the sounds of battle started echoing through the cave the guardsmen around Aaron dropped what they were doing and got into defensive positions "Whats going on sir?" one of the men asked, fear clear in his eyes

"I don't know yet soldier, although i want to find out." Aaron replied before resuming his conversation with his Lieutenant "Should we evacuate the dig site sir?"

"That's a negative, I just received a message from Inquisitor Augustin ordering all units to move to section C and form a defensive perimeter, Krask link up with Madman and move to section C, I'll be there shortly, Raphael take your group and assist Johann, I want to know whats going on down there, keep me posted" with their orders received the men radioed their acknowledges

Aaron turned around to his men and addressed them "Alright men, change of plan the inquisitor wants us to defend section C from whatever is attacking us."

"If you don't mind me asking sir, but who is attacking us?" one of the soldiers asked

"I have no idea who or what they are, but i know that they want what we have and were not gonna give it to them, so get up, say one last prayer to the Emperor, keep your eyes sharp and ready and lets go!" that got the guardsmen into high spirit

* * *

Moving through the caverns proved to be nothing but tense, even with his mask on Aaron could feel that the air was heavy, the silence save for the distant sounds of lasguns and some other distinct gun sounds was unbearing and he was already close to jumping at his own shadow

they soon reached the intersection between section A, C and D and the exit to the main antechamber, this is where they would link up with Madman's group coming from section D yet they were nowhere in sight

"Guess we'll wait for them." Aaron mused to himself as he ordered his men to stop, he then pointed at one of the guardsmen "You, take point and scout the intersection"

The trooper nodded and quietly crept his way in the cavern intersection, looking in every direction before slightly relaxing "Alright it looks cl-" he never finished as a rather large red energy bolt slammed into his head blowing it to pieces, in a split second several more were shot towards Aaron's group thankfully all of them missing

"Defensive positions!" the soldiers hurriedly moving behind any piece of rock that could be considered cover, the tired soldier from before was too sluggish to get in cover in time as two energy bolts slammed into his chest dropping him instantly

"Return fire! Return fire!" they all opened fire upon the unknown threat, sending volleys of lasfire into the intersection, it was then they saw their assailants as two of them got into view.

They looked mechanical in nature with brown humanoid shaped bodies with laser weapons built into their right hands, robust bodies and thick armor plating on their chests and heads

The two machines engaged the guardsmen sending laser fire all around the scattered soldiers, one of the shots getting lucky and hitting one of the guardsmen in the leg, he cried out in pain as he clutched his leg in cover "Throw frags!" Aaron ordered as he unleashed a quick burst into one of the machines, it staggered for a few seconds giving the guardsmen enough time to throw a couple of grenades at it, it detonated sending shrapnel all around the intersection destroying one of the machines and disabling the legs on the other, it fell down yet it did not stop its attack

"Focus fire one the downed one!" they all opened fire as one on the remaining machine as seven lasguns rained hell upon it, it got destroyed almost instantly, the soldiers took a moment to scan the area but still not moved from their positions

"Which way did they come from?" one of the guardsmen asked scanning the intersection

"From the antechamber, I reckon' they just boxed us in." another replied before taking a deep breath

"Stand fast guardsmen, check your ammo and keep your eyes sharp, they'll be back" Aaron spoke up before turning to look at the wounded guardsmen "That wound looks serious, you think you can manage it?"

The soldier grimaced while looking at the wound "The wound was cauterized immediately and I think i will limp for the rest of my life but I'll survive"

"Alright good, can you stand up?" he nodded "Good we'll need all the help we can get" Aaron turned to check his ammo count but was abruptly stopped when the battle resumes, this time with the energy bolts being discharged towards section D where Madman's group was, they retaliated sending lasfire alongside the distinct hellgun fire from Madman

"Get up soldiers! We need to assist our men!" all of Aaron's group started moving towards the intersection, even the wounded guardsmen, albeit with some difficulty, when they got in range they added their firepower to the mix seeing six more of the machines.

Caught under the concentrated fire from two different groups the machines stood no chance and were swiftly cut down

The two groups slowly made their way to the middle, never taking their eyes from the exit, Aaron meeting Madman in the middle "Good to see you guys made it in one piece." he greeted

"The feeling's mutual Krask... how many did you lost?" he asked with a somber tone

"two, you?"

"four... I just... I'm not meant for this, I walked us in two different ambushes just before we got here... If it wasn't for you guys appearing when you did I think the death count would be higher."

"You did all you could, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise" Aaron reassured him putting a hand on his shoulder pad "I need you to focus, alright? If we're to have a chance against this things we need to be level headed okay? We'll mourn the dead later." he slowly nodded before turning towards the guardsmen in the area, just like the stormtroopers the guardsmen looked tired and demoralized with three in total having being wounded

"Alright men listen up! we're to move to section C in three minutes, rest while you can but stay sharp, you never know when those things will strike" he turned and tried to contact his commanding officer but was promptly stopped when one of the guardsmen spoke up

"What then sir? Will we just defend that position 'till we all die? Because frankly I don't wanna die in here, the exit is right there! If we all rush it we could take it and call in reinforcements." several others nodded at what the trooper said _Great... just what I needed, a fraking mutiny_

"We've been given strict orders from the Inquisitor to not divert from the plan, and if we don't reinforce that section they'll get overran" the guardsmen didn't look one bit fazed

"The Inquisitor this, the Inquisitor that... Frankly the Inquisition can go eat a bag of grox sh-" he didn't get to finish as a las bolt impacted with his head. All of the soldiers turned to look at Aaron with various looks. Some looked angry, some fearful, some just didn't care and yet he knew that even with his helmet and mask on Madman looked disappointed, Aaron ignored the looks as he looked around

"Any more volunteers to spread traitorous thoughts?" he asked nobody in particular, none of the soldiers present made a move after that

Seeing that little incident out of the way he contacted his commanding officer "Harvey come in"

"I read you Krask" He replied with a tense voice

"Whats the status in section C?"

"We've engaged these abominable machines several times already, they seem to just walk towards us firing wildly, no regards for preservation... I would call them necrons but they are nothing alike"

"Thank the Emperor its not the necrons." Aaron replied as he made the imperial aquila across his chest "Any word on Johann and Raphael?"

"Johann's dead but Raph's still going, apparently a good chunk of these things are concentrated in that area. When will you be able to reinforce us Krask?

"We're just about to start moving, the men needed a rebreather after a couple encounters with these abominations."

"How many soldiers did you lose?"

"Seven" at hearing that number several guardsmen turned to look angrily at him, he paid them no attention

"They are with the Emperor now"

"They did their duty... I'll cut the transmission now, we'll start moving towards you."

"Best of luck, the Emperor protects." Harvey replied

"Always" Aaron concluded before shutting off the vox and turning towards the other soldiers "Alright men get up! The defenders of section C are counting on us to reinforce them and if we dally around here they'll surely be overwhelmed so lets get a move on!"

The guardsmen formed up in a battle formation and slowly started moving towards section C, weapons aimed in every possible direction. The trip was tense with nothing but the distant sounds of the battle accompanying the soldiers, the sounds of lasfire being slowly diminishing as they were replaced by the enemies laser weaponry.

The formation reached the point in which the section gave ground when they suddenly stopped as the ground shook violently for a couple of seconds before ceasing, the soldiers dashing for every cover possible and preparing for the incoming battle, which never came as they sat in silence for a minute, seeing that the coast was clear Aaron gave the all clear and the men returned to formation when one of the guardsmen spoke up

"Hey, you guys hear anything?" he asked looking around

"No... Why?" another replied

"Because the sounds of gunfire ceased."

Everybody tensed up hearing that, with some of them turning and aiming their weapons the way they came. Aaron quickly formulating a plan which they could scale down the pit

"Alright listen up, we'll go two by two, grab a buddy and climb down." He spoke aloud before turning to a guardsmen "You, take one of the wounded and help them down, same goes for the next two."

He quickly went to a guy that had been hit in the stomach and started helping him down

"The rest of you form a defensive line, we don't know how many of these things are out there or if they have any tricks up their sleeves so stay sharp."

They moved into cover and waited, the procedure was slow as the soldiers had to ropes to scale down from platform to platform and speeding it up was ill advised as it would leave them vulnerable

Halfway through the operation Aaron felt someone tap his shoulder pad, looking back he saw it was Madman

"What is it?" he asked

"Your're next" he replied

"That's a negative" he could feel Madman frowning under his mask "You and I will be the last to climb down as we are the most experienced from all of us, have the best armor and you have that hellgun" Aaron continued

"Very well..." Madman conceded before he turned and looked down the way they came "Do you hear that?" he asked

Aaron listened closely and he could hear something, the sound of marching... although it was distant he could distinguish the distinct clanging of the machines... _Clankers, that's a fitting name for these abominations_ he thought to himself before replying

"Yea i hear that..." Aaron said and looked at the remaining soldiers around him, _We're not enough to stop them._

Several minutes passed before contact was made, the clankers coming into view as several came down the tunnel as if their lives didn't matter... wait they didn't. The guardsmen opened fire upon the machines focusing mostly on single targets as to maximize their damage output.

The machines retaliated firing at the entrenched troops, no tactical cohesion at all as they fired at random guardsmen who simply took cover while their fellows laid down suppressing fire

The first wave went down in the span of two minutes while the defenders had lost not one soldier. Aaron looked as two more soldiers started scaling down the cliff before resuming his position_ only me, Madman and three other guardsmen_ he thought to himself as he mentally prepared for the next wave

Not long after the first came the second wave, this time doubling their numbers and opening fire the second they got into view, forcing Madman and another soldier to duck in cover

Aaron opened fire sending two bursts at one of the clankers, dropping it and another at a second one before he was forced into cover as the machines started firing towards him, that gave enough time for Madman and the other guardsmen to open fire at the machines, the hellgun doing a number on them, this prompted Aaron and the rest to add their fire to the deadly mix as the combined fire were dropping machines left and right.

To everyone's surprise the clankers turned and retreated "That's right you frakking clankers, you are nothing compared to imperial guardsmen!" one of the guardsmen barked a laugh while Aaron smiled in his mask _Glad i'm not the only one who gave them this nickname _he thought to himself

"Don't get too cocky, they still exponentially outnumber us." Madman replied not taking his eyes from the tunnel

Two more guardsmen left leaving only Aaron, Madman and the cocky guardsmen to defend

"Ready yourselves, this is gonna be really hard" Aaron announced

"Come on, we can take 'em!" the guardsmen replied

"Yea, when we had numbers."

"Fine fine, whatever you say" he conceded before turning and looking down the tunnel "Hey... Do you hear anything?" he asked

"I don't..." Madman replied

"I'm sure i he-" he didn't get to finish as a rocket came into view from down the tunnel slamming into his cover blowing it and himself apart reducing him to a bloody smear on the wall

"Son of a..." Aaron almost cursed as he tightly clutched his weapon as he waited for the enemy

Surely enough the third wave came, tripling the numbers of the clankers as they came into view, opening fire upon the two immediately forcing them into cover

"There's surely more then i expected!" Madman shouted over the cacophony of laser fire, he fired blindly over his cover hoping to hit anything before turning to Aaron "How do you wanna play this?" he shouted again

Aaron took a moment to to steel himself before he took a quick peek over his cover at the coming clankers, they immediately opened fire at him forcing him back in cover

"They're moving in tight groups, if we time it right we can break their ranks with a couple of frags when they get close and finish them off afterwards." Aaron replied looking at Madman, his friend remained silent for a few seconds before slowly shaking his head

"I don't think that'll work Krask."

"Trust me on this one, okay?"

Madman remained silent for a second before replying "Very well, I trust you... just give me the signal and I'll throw my load"

Aaron nodded pulling a couple of grenades from his belt and focused on listening as the clankers slowly made their way towards them. When they were close enough Aaron gave the signal with a hand gesture as he and Madman threw their grenades at the machines

Several explosions rocket the cave as the machines were blown apart, the two soldiers rising from their cover firing at the remaining machines cutting them down. Just as the last clanker was destroyed another group came into firing at them prompting them back in cover

"There's no end to them!" Madman shouted angrily before peeking over his cover and letting loose with his hellgun, "Eat this ya monsters!" he shouted without letting go of the trigger

Aaron threw another grenade before opening fire himself, the grenade destroyed a couple clankers and to his surprise yet another group came into view, prompting him back in cover

"Madman! We can't stay here! We gotta go!" he shouted at his squad mate as he didn't let go of his trigger firing without abandon into the clankers, surprising enough none of the machines managed to hit him once.

After a couple of seconds of continuous firing he ducked in cover and turned to Aaron "Go! I'll cover you!" He replied

"What!? I'm not leaving you behind!"

"Just go!" there was a strange conviction in his voice that made Aaron accept his decision

"Goodbye brother" he said his farewell and started making his way to the cliff, firing upon the clankers as he went.

"I'm not saying goodbye just yet!" Madman shouted back at him while firing madly at the machines

Reaching the cliff Aaron took a second to glance back to the battle, Madman was firing wildly at the incoming clankers as they miserably tried and failed shooting him, he reached down and grabbed the rope as the ground started shaking, turning around he saw as the right wall near the machines crumbled as a strange digger unit came into the tunnel, accidentally crushing two of the machines, its hatches opened and over a dozen more clankers started piling out

Deciding that staying was ill advised Aaron started making his descent towards the first platform, the intensity of the battle above rivaling that of Johann's and Raph's, reaching the first platform Aaron almost lost his footing as one of the rocks slipped falling down bellow, he was saved by quickly grabbing onto the rope, finding his footing he quickly moved left to the edge as he jumped on the next one, several explosions were heard from up above but the battle didn't cease. Grabbing onto the next rope he saw the rest of their group down below, in a defensive line weapons trained up above, one of them making him signs to come down. Nodding he continued his descend coming to another platform before jumping down on the ground and jogging to his troops

As he reached them the ground shook once again and a large explosion was heard from up above, the soldiers aimed their weapons up expecting the machines to start firing down at them but were surprised to see Madman going down the first rope

"Kill anything that gets to the edge and watch your fire!" Aaron instantly ordered his men as they all aimed their weapons at the cliffs edge. Surely enough the moment Madman touched the first platform a clanker came into view up above, it stood no chance as the combined lasfire from the soldiers down below cut the machine in pieces in an instant.

Madman continued his descend as more machines got to the ledge, not being able to effectively engage neither the guard down below or Madman as they were easily cut to pieces by the soldiers down below.

After reaching the bottom Madman started running towards the rest of the group "Let's get the hell out of here!" he shouted as he ran past the group. Several guardsmen looked at one another before shrugging and running after him deeper into the cave

"Hold the line damn it!" Aaron ordered angrily as he poured lasfire into the clankers up above, he hoped to buy a little more time draining the clankers in this choke point before retreating but some of the men already turned tail

He along the few that remained maintained their fire up on the ledge felling any machine that came into view, this went on for a few minutes before the ground started to shake and another of those weird digger machines came out around the midsection of the wall crashing down hard.

Its hatches opened up unloading its supplement of clankers, they opened fire at the guardsmen felling one down as he got hit in the chest twice.

The defenders retaliated firing back while another guardsmen threw a krak grenade at the digger unit, the grenade falling on top of it as it exploded taking more then half of the clankers, the rest were easily destroyed by lasfire

The men had a moment of respite after which the machines resumed their offensive with several of those abominations coming into view at the edge of the cliff firing wildly down below while two more digger units came from the walls

The defenders were assailed from two different sides as both the units from above and those that exited the diggers started firing at them. Two guardsmen were cut down in an instant while another had an leg severed as he fell to the ground

"We can't stay here, we've got to- Urgh!" Aaron didn't manage to finish the sentence as a laser bolt struck him in his left side, crouching down and inspecting the wound he realized that his armor had not protected him at all despite it being carapace armor as the shot burned straight through the ceramite and burned his side.

He chose to ignore it as he rose to his feet and started moving back "Everyone retreat!" he ordered whatever soldier was still standing. They then did a tactical retreat providing cover fire for each other as they moved from cover to cover but that did not last long as several rockets came crashing down on their left flank evaporating the three soldiers in that area

"Eat this!" one of the guardsmen shouted as he threw a grenade at the incoming crowd, the explosion resulting in the destruction of several machines

Another digger unit appeared, this time right next to them catching them off guard as it turned one of the soldiers into minced meat, it quickly unloaded its accursed load of clankers as they opened fire onto the defenders, catching two off guard and gutting another

"Frak this, RUN!" Aaron ordered as he turned tail and ran down the tunnel, alongside him several soldiers followed, they ran under the constant fire of the machines.

Aaron didn't dare look back as he heard some of his men being hit and cry out for someone to save them as he continued to run towards section C.

* * *

When he arrived he took a moment to look at the defenses. Over three dozen guardsmen alongside his squad leader and Madman were taking cover behind anything that could be considered cover, from sandbag walls they had piled up to rock walls and boulders, he also saw two heavy bolter batteries manned by them, furthest in was the entrance to the main sanctum where the inquisitor and the techpriests resided doing whatever they were doing... _I hope they're doing something to get us out of this mess..._ he thought to himself as he looked around, a couple of moments later someone came running down from his back

Turning he saw there were two more guardsmen that made it , on of them ran past him while the other stopped for a second "What are you doing gawking like that sir?! They're right in our backs!" he exclaimed pointing a finger towards the way they came from

"Calm yourself soldier and find yourself some cover!" Aaron replied before starting jogging towards Harvey and Madman. They were taking cover behind a wall of sandbags on the left flank with Harvey tending to some of the wounds that Madman got during his mad moment

Vaulting over the wall Aaron sat down and looked at the two others "You've got the luck of the Emperor, you know that Madman?" Aaron said chuckling lightly

"I said I wasn't going to say goodbye just yet." he replied before wincing in pain

"Hold still for the Emperor's sake!" Harvey said as he injected Madman with a stim- injection before handing him a pill and a canteen, he swallowed the pill and took a hefty swig of water to drown it

"That should keep you combat effective for the next couple of hours" Harvey said before turning to Aaron "How long until those abominations get to us Krask?" he asked

"A couple of minutes I believe." Aaron replied

Harvey nodded as he climbed to his feet to look at the men around. Most if not all of them were tense, ever with masks on they're faces the men couldn't hide their fear as they clutched their weapons tightly, others were silently muttering prayers to the Emperor and preparing for the incoming battle.

He then took up positions at the sandbag wall prompting his last two squad members to do the same. True to his word, after a couple of minutes the defenders could hear the marching sounds coming from down the tunnel and moments later all hell broke loose as the machines entered the room firing as they went.

The bolter batteries opened fire and cut through the clankers as if they weren't there while the rest of the soldiers focused their fire on singular targets forcing the machines into a deadly choke point.

This went for a couple of minutes with neither side stopping firing even for a second. After the first clanker wave ended there were over three dozen clankers laying motionless on the floor with only four imperial guardsmen dead

Aaron quickly changed his lasgun's battery pack as he prepared for the next wave, he was sure that they had already destroyed a couple hundred of these things already and the fact that they kept employing these reckless tactics meant that either they had numbers to boast or that their abominable mentalities made them throw themselves like that

The second wave came just like before, with twice the number of the first, only this time the defenders had full numbers and were prepared as they unleashed their fire unto the machines

Aaron fired his weapon with reckless abandon at the enemy as it didn't really matter where you aimed as there were enough clankers to kill. He dropped two before aiming at another group of three only to see them blow up as a guardsmen wielding a grenade launcher started firing his load unto the machines, he then resumed firing at another, sending two quick bursts into the clanker, destroying it. Then he felt the iconic ground rumble one would feel when one of the clankers digger machines would pop out of the ground... and there it was on the right side of the wall, it burst into the room and in a couple of moments it unloaded its batch of clankers

One of the bolters started firing upon it cutting many of the machines in pieces but the digger remained undamaged. Aaron then realized that their choke point had effectively been neutralized as there were now two tunnels out of with the clankers could pour from. He continued firing at them wasting no time killing clankers left and right.

The second wave ended with all of the clankers laying motionless on the floor, there had to be at least a hundred of these accursed abominations laying around. Turning to look at the guardsmen he saw that eight guardsmen lay motionless on the floor _We're only on wave two and almost down to half strengh!_ he thought angrily to himself before steeling himself for the third wave

The third wave was unlike the others as there came no clankers but diggers, three in total, one coming from the left wall, one right next to the one on the right and one came from the fraking ceiling... right in the back of their lines...

It took the defenders a couple of moments to process what happened and all it took was those moments for the machines to start cutting into the guardsmen. Aaron was too focused on the ones coming from the front to focus on the back although Harvey turned and fired upon them with reckless abandon, another couple of minutes of constant firing resulted in Aaron having to duck and reload his weapon again _Two batteries left... At this rate I'll be out of ammo in a couple of minutes_ he thought to himself grimly as he reloaded his weapon.

After reloading he resumed firing upon the metalic abominations only to realize there were even more of them coming from the tunnels

"By the Emperor! They'll overwhelm us!" Aaron exclaimed as he fired wildly into the enemy crowd

"Keep firing! Don't let up!" Harvey shouted as he threw a grenade at the back of their lines, the explosion resulted in the destruction of several machines

By now only one bolter was operational as the other's crew lay dead upon it, regardless it kept firing constantly into the machines ranks thinning them out. It all stopped when yet another digger came crashing down from the ceiling, plunging straight into them crushing the poor men under it

The battle was turning very bad for the defenders as they were outnumbered and encircled, yet they did not give up as they valiantly kept up the fire, killing as many machines as they could before dying. They were about to employ more desperate measures when from section C's sanctum came a squad of crusaders to assist them.

The machines that dropped behind them now found themselves encircled as they were fired upon from two different sides. they were quickly destroyed and the crusaders came up to bolster the defense as they fired their bolters at the clankers, sometimes destroying two for one shots. To say the least, they made short work of the clankers

The third wave was over and Aaron rose from his cover to look around. Beneath his mask he frowned as he looked at only seven guardsmen being still alive besides him, Harvey and Madman.

The crusaders moved quickly dismounting a heavy bolter and hefting it back into the sanctum while another moved to the middle and spoke in a rather raspy, high-pitched voice

"Servant's of his holy majesty, you defensive lines can no longer defend us reliably, we must retreat into the sanctum for a more reliable defence. The inquisitor and the techpriests must not be disturbed while they make preparations!"

The assembled troops looked at one another before starting moving towards the sanctum. Aaron stopped to loot a couple of lasgun batteries to replace his spent ones... How he wished he had a hellgun right now.

Entering the sanctum the soldiers were shocked to find it in such a good condition. Everyone thought that whatever they found was nothing of value but this was beyond that.

What lay in front of them were pristine but rather dusty walls pulsating with strange energies. around the chamber laid many terminals both mechanicus and xeno and at the far end of the chamber were several techpriests and the inquisitor. The techpriests were working on some kind of contraption built into the wall, looking like a giant serrated pipe which pulsed with power, the inquisitor was standing next to them overseeing them dexterously working away.

Aaron quickly shook himself as he started to wander around looking for what he could consider adequate cover. Finding it he took up position overseeing the entrance, checked his ammo and prepared himself for the incoming doom.

The rest of the men did the same, taking defensive positions and awaiting their doom. There was strange conviction in the air among the defenders. The crusaders lacked it as they mostly stood around their inquisitor looking like nothing was going on at all but the guardsmen were waiting in a total silence that spoke thousands.

They were going to die, and they could do nothing to stop it. They already destroyed hundreds of those things and they kept on coming, they had no access to surface level but something told them that this battle was going on on planetary level. All of their hopes were with the techpriests and that weird contraption in the wall

A couple of minutes went by with nothing but silence and the sounds of the techpriests working, Aaron felt as if there was something bad going to happen. He turned to look at his squad leader who must of felt just the same

"Ready yourselves." Harvey broke the silence several guardsmen turned to look at him knowingly before clutching their weapons tightly

"Have faith in the Emperor and he shall deliver you all." one of the crusaders replied as he came next to Harvey

"The Emperor protects..." Aaron muttered to himself

A couple of moments later he could hear the distinct clanging noise that the machines made as they came into the room. Their first ranks were immediately destroyed as Madman threw a grenade at them, this did not stop them as more started to pour in with such lack of self preservation that some of them didn't even fire as they marched in... _It's as if they want us to run out of ammo..._ Aaron thought to himself grimly as he fired upon them

The heavy bolter they have retrieved was firing wildly through the room with little to no thought of the terminals that it hit, it was cutting though the machines with ease yet again it did not matter for the machines numbers greatly outweighed those of the defenders

Two guardsmen were killed then they peeked the same way as a group of the machines were marching towards them, their bodies dropping in bloody heaps, a crusader got cocky and went to engage the machines in melee as he drew his sword and shield and charged their lines, he managed to destroy a couple before they overwhelmed him cutting through his armor as if it wasn't there

The ground rumbled once again as another digger came through the wall. _By the Emperor... Just how many of these things are there!? _Aaron thought to himself as he started firing at the clankers that got off the transport

The machines were getting closer which prompted one of the techpriests to join the battle, he shouted a war cry which went unheard over the cacophony of fire and fired his shoulder mounted plasma rifle at the machines destroying three with only one shot

Aaron cursed as he had to dash to another piece of cover as his got blasted apart by the clankers, he got into cover behind a terminal alongside a guardsmen, he tapped him on his shoulder but didn't respond. Grabbing onto him he turned him to face him but found out that the man missed half of his face. Wasting not a second Aaron grabbed a couple of grenades and tossed them overhead, several explosions rocked the room as they exploded doing a number upon the mechanical horde.

The ground started rumbling again as two more diggers came crashing down from the ceiling, one of them crushing the crusader manning the heavy bolter, they immediately deployed and started firing onto the defenders.

The battle turned into total chaos as there was no longer a front line, the soldiers fighting like mad mans, one of which sported the nickname. Aaron quickly started to move backwards towards the contraption. Along the way he stumbled upon Harvey, he laid behind a terminal with several clankers around him, Aaron then realized that Harvey had lost his legs and was in shock as he looked down at them as if they were supposed to be there

Moving quickly he grabbed onto the man and gave him a shook "Come on Harvey! This is not the time to die!" Aaron shouted as he made to drag his CO but was stopped when Harvey grabbed his hands

"Leave me! I'm not gonna make it!" he said while looking at his legs

"Those can be replaced! Come on!"

"No! Go without me... That's an order Aaron!" Aaron was shocked over someone using his actual name rather then his nickname but understood the conviction in Harvey voice

"Yes sir!" and so he went, leaving his squad leader and friend behind to a gruesome death that he certainly would share. He reached the contraption to find only one guardsmen, Madman_,_ two crusaders, the inquisitor and four techpriests defending it as another worked tirelessly to activate it

They kept up the fire as the machines kept coming, one crusader got shot in the head, he was dead before he even hit the ground, another techpriest was assaulted by several clankers as they started pulling apart, tearing him into pieces, while firing Aaron heard an explosion coming from where he left his squad leader but did not stop to look.

Another two diggers coming into view. One from the right wall and the other coming from the ground right in front of the inquisitor. Its rotary drill impaling the man before throwing his chunks of meat around the room. What exited the transports were not the simple clankers from before, but rather more heavily armored ones which sported rocket launchers instead of laser weapons. One of them turned to aim at him and fired one of its missiles, Aaron jumped out of its way as it flew past him, exploding harmlessly in the far wall. Aaron landed heavily on his stomach grunting as he went, quickly getting to his feet he turned to aim at the clankers but was backhanded to the ground as one of them got close enough to hit him

He quickly raised his lasgun and opened fire at the clanker filling its chest with lasfire as it fell backwards. Rising back to his feet he quickly dashed into the nearest cover, he peeked to fire only to find his gun clicking empty. turning back into cover he checked around to find if he had any ammo left _One last battery pack left... Let's make it count_ he thought grimly as he inserted the battery in his weapon.

He took a moment to look around and saw that some of the machines simply passed him without paying him attention, moving towards the contraption. This forced the techpriests into deadly melee with the machines as they came too close. Madman was taking cover right in the contraption, firing from behind one of the serrated sections

Despite there being several diggers already in the room, the clankers seemed to not care if they brought the ceiling down on everyone as yet another digger came crashing down from it, falling right nearly on top of the contraption. It quickly unloaded its clankers which to Aaron's surprise and horror fired their weapons at the contraption. A salvo of laser fire and rockets slammed into it and Madman was forced into cover as a rocket flew past him at the far end of the pipe, and then all hell broke loose.

The clankers weapons caused power spikes across the room as the contraption destabilized itself, making some sections of the once pristine walls to explode as energy flew out them, encompassing random clankers in the crowd and frying them, the last crusader was subjected to the same death as the energies encompassed him as well, melting his armor around him and burning him to a crisp.

It was then that the contraption activated itself as even more energies flew from it, encompassing the very first row of clankers and destroying them. Aaron was certain that Madman did not survive as he took cover right inside of it but chose to ignore the creeping dread encompassing him as he sent small bursts of accurate fire at the machines

It was then that Aaron realized that he would die in the next couple of moments as he felt himself being pulled away... not by someone but by the air itself. He quickly grabbed onto his cover and turned to see that the contraption started spinning, its power flying wildly around the room frying whoever was near it. He saw several corpses fly inside of it before disappearing from view. He clutched tightly onto the wall as he felt his legs start flying behind him, seeing many of the machines being pulled and destroyed in the energy field made Aaron clutch all the more tightly onto his cover. This did not last as one of the heavier clankers came flying towards him.

He screamed in horror as the clanker slammed into him and both of them went flying towards the contraption. He turned and for a moment stared at the incoming vortex _Emperor forgive me..._ he prayed one last time as he all but embraced his demise. He made contact with the field and everything went black.

* * *

The first thing Aaron expected in the afterlife was to lay his eyes upon the Emperor on the golden throne, this was not the case as he saw nothing but darkness_ Is this the afterlife? Even the warp is more interesting than this. _he mused to himself feeling nothing at all. The sensation did not last long as he suddenly regained some feel and what he felt surprised him. He felt rain fall upon him_ Rain? why can i feel rain but cannot see... By the Throne! I'm blind! _he felt panic settle in as he tried but failed to move his limbs_ Where are my limbs!? _he silently wailed as he tried in vain to move.

After a couple of moments of wiggling on the ground more of his body started to respond, in the form of his eyes opening just in time to witness thunder striking down somewhere in the distance. He took a moment to look around and saw that he alongside some of the defenders and some of those accursed clankers ended up in a city or something as he sat in the middle of a street with building dotting both sides. The style reminded him of a garden world as he took in every detail but abruptly stopped as he finally laid his eyes on the corpses around him.

There were over two dozen bodies both mechanical and organic around him, most of them burned to a crisp while others were surprisingly intact. He quickly deduced that he wasn't the only survivor as he laid his eyes on two other defenders... Albeit it was quickly reduced to one as the last techpriest was being torn to pieces by one of the heavy clankers. The other survivor was surprisingly the guardsmen as he fired from a sitting position down the street at two of the clankers as they made their way towards him.

Suddenly feeling a surge of sensation in his upper body Aaron turned to look around for his weapon spotting it a few meters from him. He started crawling towards his weapon through the small debris and corpses brought from the cave. He stopped for a moment as his eyes laid upon the corpse of Madman... Or what was left of him as he missed his lower half of his body while his armor and weapon had been melted and fused with his body. Aaron remained silent before resuming his crawl.

Reaching his weapon he quickly checked the ammo count, finding it at half power_ More then enough._ he thought to himself as he swung the lasgun and opened fire upon the clanker that fell the techpriest, sending two quick bursts into it destroying it. He quickly switched targets and opened fire upon the other two clankers as they reached the guardsmen. he sent another two volleys into the right one eliminating it but was not fast enough on the second as he reached to grab the poor man

The guardsmen plunged his bayonet into the clanker but it did not do much as the machine simply glanced at it for a second before bringing its other hand down on top of the man's head, hitting hard enough and leaving a rather large dent into his helmet. The man was dead in an instant and the machine turned to look at Aaron as he sent another two volleys into it finally eliminating it

Aaron quickly started to scan the surrounding area in case of any more clankers but found none. He quickly started checking himself for any more wounds, besides the wound in his side he was fine. He started to work on regaining feel on the rest of his body

About a minute after he destroyed the last clanker he started to see that some of the building lights came on and people started to come out to see just what was going on. Aaron was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a human world and not a xenos world as humans exited the buildings and looked at the slaughter before them. Judging from their expressions Aaron deduced that they were horrified at the sight before them, with some of them scrunching their noses as they took in the smell of burned meat

Finally starting to have some feel in his legs Aaron started to slowly get to his feet, he saw that the civilians were uncertain of how to proceed as they stood on each side of the street looking at the display. As he finally got to his feet he turned and walked towards a middle aged man with graying hair who stood the closest to him.

As he neared the man Aaron could tell that he was tense, it was uncommon of the average civilian of garden worlds to witness warfare and he reassured the man waving his hand at him. The man visibly relaxed as he nodded at Aaron

"Excuse me Imperial citizen, but can you tell me on which planet I am?" Aaron asked the man as he reached him

The man visibly flinched after hearing the heavily distorted voice coming from Aaron's mask, but quickly regained his composure before replying in a version comparable to low gothic

"You're on Naboo sir... but if you don't mind me asking, just what happened here?" He replied

Aaron remained silent for a few seconds before replying "It's very complicated... as for the planet, I have never heard of it. where is it located?"

"We are located in the mid rim in the galactic south." the man replied but saw that Aaron visibly tensed up

"By the Emperor..." he muttered "We got flung across the bloody galaxy." Aaron said to the man as a couple more people started to form a semi circle around them

"We were in the segmentum obscurus in the galactic north." Aaron continued, many of the civilians gaping at what he just said while others were left confused

"Don't mind me asking but what is the segmentum obscurus?" a woman asked being confused at what Aaron was saying

"Its the name of the northern reach of the galaxy... You know, the part with the eye of terror?" more of the people were left baffled and confused the more Aaron talked to them. It started to annoy him.

"You people don't even know what the eye of terror is? Are you even an imperial compliant world?!" he continued becoming more annoyed

"Yes we are, we serve the empire" the middle aged man replied with some resignation

"Very well, I will take it up to your planetary governor... How is there a planet that doesn't know what the eye of terror is is beyond me." he muttered to himself before chuckling darkly "How can you not know it, we've only been at war with the abominations that dwell in it for ten thousand years only."

Now all of the people gathered looked at Aaron as he was insane "Ten thousand year? What are you talking about?" a person asked aloud as more started to murmur among themselves

"Are you alright son?" the middle aged man asked Aaron with concern plastered over his face

"No of course not! All of my friends are dead, I'm tired, angry and wounded with-" He replied before stopping and turning and pointed at the remains of Madman

"That man used to be my brother in arms not one hour ago and now look at him! We've fought together for twelve years and now he's gone! Reduced to nothing but a charred corpse on the street!" Aaron shouted angrily making some of the people to move back a little

"I'm sorry for your loss" the middle aged man tried to comfort the angry soldier

"I don't need your pity, just point me towards the nearest military checkpoint and I'll tell them to come clean up this mess" He replied gesturing around him

The man nodded before replying "It's a couple of kilometers that way" he gestured down the road facing east "If you wish, I could take you there as i work nearby it.

Aaron remained silent for a second and then nodded "That would be appreciated"

The man nodded and gestured to be followed. The crowd began to disperse as people started heading home, having enough fill of stench and decay. Aaron stopped as he saw a couple comforting their child who was crying in his mothers arms. He pitied the youngling, having to witness the fires of war at such a fragile age would surely mentally scar the boy. He slowly shook his head and made to follow the old man but stopped and gazed at the boy's mother. In the dark it was hard to see but he could see that despite her human like form her skin was yellow with face markings_ A mutant most likely _he shook his head and made to follow the old man to his house's garage

"If we move quickly maybe we can get you to a hospital to get that wound treated." he said pointing a finger at Aaron's side

"That would be appreciated but time is of the essence." Aaron replied

"Very well, although it wouldn't take long you know, a bacta bandage would be enough" the man insisted

"I don't know what bacta is but I must refuse"

"Very well..." the man conceded

The man pulled out a remote control and tapped one of the buttons. The garage started to open and the old man turned to Aaron but quickly turned his gaze in the distance prompting Aaron to do the same

"I don't think we'll need to get to them as they came to us" the old man said looking as two shuttles came into view

Aaron immediately tensed up when he saw them, their design foreign to him but what stood out to him was the emblem they sported. Instead of the imperial aquila these ships sported a weird roundel with some lines in the middle. He immediately turned to the middle aged guy and confusedly asked

"I thought you were an Imperial compliant world!" he all but shouted at the man

"Yes we are! We serve the Galactic Empire!" the man replied unsure if the way he proceeded was the correct one

"I meant the Imperium of Man!" Aaron shouted angrily at the man before dashing into the nearest cover as the ships arrived

The middle aged guy tapped a key on his remote and started running for his door, getting to safety from what would be another battle.

One of the ships landed atop one of the building and another landed at the far end of the street. From them Soldiers clad in white armor piled out, taking cover around the street. Aaron cursed his luck as he checked his ammo count_ Last mag with barely half ammo... This must be some tricks from __tzeentch to frak with me... _He mentally prepared himself for what lay ahead

_Let's do this..._

* * *

Author's note: I never expected to return to writing, but here I am again.

I hope my writing isn't too bad as English is not my first language. Leave a review if you like and don't shy away from telling me if some parts are non-canonical

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**"A galaxy far far away"**

The planet of Naboo was regarded by many to be one of the safest and most peaceful planets in the galaxy. With low crime rates and stable economy the people of Naboo enjoyed a relative happy existence. This was not the case for a small community in the eastern hemisphere as their town was turned into an active warzone between two platoons of stormtroopers and a unknown gray armored soldier. It all started late at night when what could possibly be the weirdest event happening.

A portal opened spewing over two dozen bodies in one of its streets with some of them still being alive. It quickly ended with one survivor, the gray armored soldier. The imperial response team arrived a little afterwards and opened fire upon the invader.

The news spread across the planet like wildfire as news outlets were notified prompting them to send several groups of reporters immediately. Zegana was one of the reporters sent to report for her news outlet.

She was a stunningly beautiful Twi'lek who was popular with the people of Naboo, although she aspired to become known across the galaxy. Right now she kept nervously fidgeting in her seat while en route via shuttle to the town of Kathern.

"Relax Zega." her camera man said from the seat next to her. He was a human in his late thirties by the name of Wael "We'll be in and out in less then half an hour." He tried to reassure her but she did not looked convinced

"How can you be soo relaxed right now? We're going to a warzone!" she exclaimed throwing her hands in the air

"Relax, the stormtroopers are taking care of the insurgent. Besides, the thing we have to really be concerned is to censor the bodies in the street when we go live"

Zega visibly shuddered as she tried to not think about it, _Over two dozen bodies, a bloody massacre_ she thought to herself grimly.

They reached their destination ten minutes later, landing two streets away from where the fighting was. Wael immediately rose from his seat and made to gather his equipment with Zega on his heel. With their camera equipment ready they moved to the shuttle's exit, Zega pressed a button on the wall and the ramp came down revealing the storm outside

"These raincoats won't protect us in this rain." Wael grumbled to himself as he started to descend down with Zega following him down into the storm

Truth be told, they expected a loud cacophony of weapons fire when they were told where they needed to go but were surprised when all they could hear over the storm were muffled shots fired every couple of seconds. Obviously neither the stormtroopers or the insurgent were making any moves

Creeping through the back alleys towards the battle site Zega had a bad feeling something wrong was going to happen. She pushed those feelings back as she focused onwards _You have a job to do Zegana, focus! _she mentally berated herself as she continued on

Reaching the street on which the massacre laid they took a moment to look around, immediately regretting as they looked with horrified expressions at the sight before them. In the middle of the street laid over two dozen corpses, both mechanical and organic, with many of them being almost completely charred while others looked as if they were mauled by some vicious animal. The most intact corpse in Zega's opinions was the body of a human in green armor that laid the closest to them with the only deformity being a large dent in his helmet, no doubt the cause of his death.

Zega quickly composed herself as she turned to her partner "Alright, get the camera and don't forget to censor the bodies." she told him

They quickly took positions where they would get the best view of the sight before them

Wael began working on his camera before giving her the 'get ready' sign "Going live in three, two, one." he pointed his finger at Zega as she started speaking

"This is reporter Zegana Orduna transmitting live from the suburbs of Kathern where what looks like a massacre had just unfolded." She got out of the way for Wael to showcase the bodies in the street before coming back into view "As of now, the local law enforcements are engaged with what looks like the only survivor of the onslaught. We don't know who this person is but after the failed first contact in which he opened fire upon the inspecting troops and killing two I believe that he is not one of the good guys. We will try to get a better view and keep you people posted, this is Zegana Orduna signing out."

"And cut." Wael said before resuming working on his camera. Zega could see that a frown formed on his face as he kept pressing buttons on it

"Is there something wrong?" she asked as he turned to look at her for a moment before resuming tapping at it

"The camera was showing that we were live and transmitting but we didn't transmit anything... bloody faulty equipment!" he angrily shouted

"I don't think its the equipment... Did you see that our shuttle's internal mainframe started to go haywire as we neared this location?" Zega responded looking at the rather annoyed man

"So you mean to tell me whatever brought those guys is distorting our equipment?" Wael asked looking into the street at the bloody sight

"Its only a theory, but I'm certain that it-" she did not finish as an explosion followed by rapid blaster fire was heard from down the street forcing both of them into cover

"We can't stand here! We need to get back to the shuttle!" Wael exclaimed as he got to his feet turning to Zega

She took another peek around the corner and looks in the direction the explosion came from. The front entrance of what looked like a simple store was blown to pieces as several stormtroopers laid motionless around it... and there he was, peeking from an alley looking both ways. The insurgent sported a rather intricate looking armor with some stylized marking around the edged of it, she also saw what looked like a human skull badge modeled onto his left shoulder pad and those red eyes... red eyes that looked right at her.

It took her a moment to realize that the soldier intently gazed at her. She gasped and in that moment the soldier sprung into a sprint somewhere down the street. She quickly turned back to her partner with fear in her voice "We gotta go, We gotta go now!" she exclaimed as they heard the battle resume

Wasting no time they started to move back towards their little shuttle, moving slowly at first but when they realized the sounds of fighting were moving towards their shuttle they all but burst into a sprint.

When their shuttle came into view they felt somewhat relieved but then a stormtrooper came barreling down from an alley to the left stopping them in their tracks, a few moments later more blaster bolts came coming from the same alley and the insurgent popped into view, coming around the same alley and taking cover behind the corner before returning fire at the stormtroopers that were firing at him.

The two of them were completely frozen as they looked at the man firing constantly before abruptly stopping but keeping his aim down the alley. Zega looked as the man slowly got to his feet scanning the area before his eyes landing upon the two.

A couple of moments passed with neither side making a move but it did not last as the soldier raised a blaster he scavanged from the stormtroopers and started firing towards them, prompting them to dash for the nearest cover with Wael hiding behind a large dumpster and Zega ducking in a doorway

The soldier started running towards them and in a moment he was upon them, aiming his blaster at Wael and fired, surprisingly missing as Wael tackled him to the ground

"Zega run!" he shouted as he started pounding the soldier down below sending fist after fist into his armored head

Zega was just too petrified to move as she stared as the two fought

"What are you waiting for?! Just GOO- Urgh!" he grunted as the soldiers blaster discharged into his stomach. He felt his energy leave him and fell on top of the soldier. He simply pushed Wael off of him and quickly got to his feet turning to look at Zega for a second before turning once again to look at Wael. He leveled his blaster and fired hitting Wael in the head.

Zega screamed in terror after witnessing her friend die right before her eyes and fell to her knees. The soldier slowly made his way towards her, stopping in front of her as she gazed fearfully at him, menacing red orbs scanned her before he spoke in a heavily distorted voice

"At first I tried to deny the fact but now i have the proof right before my eyes... You're a xeno...An abomination." he sneered at her

"who... What are you?!" she wailed at him as tears started streaking down her cheeks

The soldier remained silent for a second before leveling his rifle before replying

"I'm Krask" he said as he pulled the trigger

The last thing Zega saw was a red blaster bolt before the world went dark.

* * *

_Filthy xenos..._

That's what Aaron thought when he killed that female xeno before him. When he saw her peeking over from that alley he thought she was just another civilian watching but now that he got a closer look he deduced that she was a xeno with blue skin and what looked like two tentacles sprouted from the back of her head tucked in her raincoat.

Aaron turned and scanned his surroundings for any more of those white armored soldiers. Finding none his gaze fell down to his new weapon. A rather small laser rifle he scavanged when his lasgun clicked empty, he still had it holstered on his back and would use it another time when he had ammo. The one thing Aaron liked about normal imperial lasguns was that their battery charges could be easily recharged even when left in the sun. He didn't know how it worked but he liked to think the machine spirit inside every pack got its power from the light.

Still he had to admit that the rifle in his hands did its job well, for a xenos rifle at that. It was not fully automatic and even if it was he did not know how to switch modes. Surprisingly its laser bolts produced some kind of recoil rather then the small one his lasgun did but its stopping power was more then enough to pierce the armor his enemies wore.

_By the Emperor they are bad shots..._ Aaron thought to himself as he started to move towards what looked like a shuttle. When he neared it he considered trying to fly it out of here but decided against as it was was too small for warp travel and most likely he would be intercepted before he got in orbit by enemy fighters.

He simply passed it as he wandered through the back alleys of this mysterious city. by now he could hear the constant noise of patrol ships and vehicles through the street as the enemy moved in force. He had to duck several times in cover and hide as some ships moved overhead, nearly spotting him several times.

For now he had no idea where he was going but he didn't care as long as he got away from this place, he hoped to find some shelter and wait out a couple of days for things to calm down, he didn't worried about food as he had his rations with his that could keep him fed for a whole two days, even a week if he rationed them. He ducked in a doorway as another patrol ship soared above, its lights scanning the area for him _I'll need a disguise for moving around..._ he thought to himself as he left his hiding spot.

He quickly formulated a plan for escaping this planet D_isguise, shelter, wait a couple of days, find a way out of this planet... but what then? _he grimly thought to himself. Truth be told all he knew was that he was in the galactic south, in what the people of this planet called the mid rim and he felt that he was very far away from the Imperium from the fact that these people didn't even know what the Eye of terror or what even the Imperium was.

He arrived at another street, taking cover as to not be seen. Aaron slowly peeked to look for any enemies that might patrol the area. Finding none he started running to the other side of the street.

Just as he reached the other side his luck seemed to run out as he heard a pair of engines and suddenly he and the area around him were engulfed in a bright light. Turning and looking up he saw that one of the patrol ships spotted him. Leveling his rifle he fired a couple of shots at it doing no damage at all then his shoulder mounted camera informed him that a vehicle that looked like it utilized grav technology rounded a corner to his left.

He then realized that it was a transport as it quickly unloaded a dozen of those soldiers and turned its top turret towards him. They did not open fire right away as they quickly spread out around the area, he then saw that more soldiers moving from the other corned of the street.

"Terrorist, on behalf of the Galactic Empire you are ordered to surrender!" a voice came from the speaker on the transport "Do it now or face Imperial judgement!"

Seeing that he was surrounded, Aaron did the only thing that came to mind... he ran towards the closest door that he could find prompting the enemy to open fire on him. He felt a stinging pain in his right leg just as he reached the door making him trip and smash into it. Thankfully its weak materials buckled under his weight as it fell down. Aaron quickly got to his feet and checked his new wound_ Nothing serious _he thought as he continued down in the building.

It appeared he was in some kind of shop that sold civilian wear, that gave him a very wicked idea. Moving with haste he went searching for a cloak or something similar, throwing as many clothes on the floor as he went, when he found something suitable he quickly adorned it, just in time too as a pair of those white armored soldiers entered the building.

Aaron quickly took cover behind the counter as red laser bolts streaked past him, he quickly retaliated firing his weapon with a precision that put his enemies to shame, quickly eliminating one soldier with two shots to the chest and another with on to the head. He quickly got to his feet grabbing a couple more clothing racks and throwing them on the floor. He then brought out his pack of lho sticks and lighter _Was about time I quit smoking _he thought as he lit the pack on fire and threw it on the bundle of clothes on the floor. They quickly caught fire and then Aaron realized something, that he lit up the floor leading to the exit and he didn't know if these people used back doors. Keeping his panic in check he quickly made his way to the back of the store where he felt relieved almost ten fold as he found a door leading into a back alley.

He exited the building and quickly took cover behind a wall as several soldiers came into view, opening fire at him the moment they saw him. He once again retaliated prompting them to retreat behind the corned, managing to hit one in the shoulder but surprisingly his armor held as he was heard only grunting in pain.

Aaron then looked around and spotted another back door and went for it, entering what looked like an apartment building. He quickly made his way to the front and exited in the street. Surprisingly the street was empty as he crossed it into another building, this one also an apartment building as he made his way through it with no opposition.

He then realized why there were no more soldiers hunting him. Exiting the apartments he saw that the clothing store he was earlier in was burning up, with the fire spreading to the surrounding area._ This isn't what i wanted but I'll take it_ he thought to himself as he watched several ships soar towards the burning building. Even with the storm in full effect it did little to stop the fire. Aaron turned and continued walking through the alleys, devoid of any activity as he finally managed to lose his pursuers.

After carefully passing through several streets devoid of any life he reached a rather large building, with garage doors dotting the walls _A manufactorum?... no it cannot be, its too small... maybe a local workshop_ Aaron shook his head as he made his way towards it. It look big enough to find a hiding spot and he felt that with what just happened in this city nobody would dare leave their homes in the coming days.

As he entered it he found out it was actually a storage area_ Even better, _the only problem he had was that it was pitch black inside. Turning on his night vision he started moving around the isles stacked with crates. He quickly made his way to the loading bay where workers would load the vehicles and started looking around. He quickly located the workers lockers and like the good intruder he was he broke into them and started looting, finding mostly nothing of worth exept for some clothing and some shoes. What truly got his attention were some weird little yellow plates that he kept finding in every locker. Quickly inspecting one he then realized that it was in fact gold _So these people use the gold standard, that's good to know... Although their __aesthetic's compared to the Imperial Crown is most lacking._

He quickly pocketed all the money he could find before looking further through the building, quickly coming across a panel on the wall. Hoping this was the light switch he started pressing buttons. He was indeed right as after pressing a couple the lights came on, nearly blinding him. Deactivating his night vision he resumed him search, finding nothing more of value.

Satisfied with his search he quickly went on to look for a spot in which he would sleep for the night, moving to look in the areas tightly packed with crates. Before he could truly starting searching he stopped as he thought he could hear something in the building. Listening closely he realized he was not alone as he could hear another moving about the place in the loading area.

With his laser weapon in hand Aaron slowly crept his way back, making sure to make as little noise as possible. As he reached the loading bay he once more stopped as he could hear the footsteps coming from an isle to his right. Looking through a crack in between the crates he laid his eyes on a short boxy little machine moving about the place on stubby little legs.

"What the frak?" Aaron muttered to himself as he scanned the little machine. Still being paranoid he continued to creep his way towards the machine, reaching it rather fast as it could only move slowly

As he got in its back he was unsure how to proceed, coming up with nothing Aaron settled with calling it

"Hey" He said loud enough that the machine could hear him. It stopped and slowly turned around on its little legs, coming to face him he saw that its face was a panel with a couple of buttons and one optic

"Gonk" The machine said prompting Aaron to level his weapon. After a couple of moments of nothing happening he slowly lowered it

"Gonk?" he asked unsure of what it meant

"Gonk"

"Is that all you can say?"

"Gonk"

Aaron stood silent for a second before a chuckle escaped his lips "You seem peaceful enough." he said as he started inspecting the machine. It surprisingly stood still as he looked it over, his eyes eventually falling upon a socket in its side. Gears started spinning in his head as he took out one of his battery packs and plugged it. the socket was slightly larger but his pack still fit almost perfectly. A smile quickly formed on his face as he looked at his newly charged pack, quickly then he started charging the others. As he finished recharging the last one he lightly patted the top of the machine "For an abominable intelligence you're not so bad"

"Gonk"

"Whatever you say." he then placed his laser rifle on one of the crates and took out his lasgun, already feeling much safer with a weapon of the Imperium in his hands. He then went back to searching for a hiding spot, finding a good spot after about ten minutes of searching. It was in one of the corners where the crates were stacked in high enough, he found a crack leading to a small space big enough for one person. He slowly entered and made himself comfortable. This was a bad idea as all of his wounds and pains came back as adrenaline stopped its effect

Aaron groaned in annoyance as he started looking into his satchel for his personal field kit. He took it in his hands and started rummaging through it, quickly taking out a syringe. He then started feeling for veins on his neck, finding one he then carefully injected himself with the syringe_ That should dull the pain for now_ He then took a couple of bandages and a small bottle of disinfectant placing them next to him. He then started removing his armor to be able to treat his wounds more efficiently.

With his armor removed he went on to treat himself, with the largest wound being the one on his side. He winced in pain as he dropped a couple of drops of disinfectant upon the wound and then bandaged the are the best he could "It should hold for now" he muttered to himself as he looked over his battered body. The stim started to take effect dulling his pains and he finally managed to relax and try to sleep, only to realize that the lights were still on.

Groaning to himself he was about to get to his feet when they suddenly went out _The little fella' keeps on giving _he thought to himself as he got more comfortable. Before he even knew it sleep overtook him and he was out cold.

* * *

When he woke up the next day he expected to wake up in a cell or something but was pleasantly relieved to still be in the warehouse. He carefully scanned the area from his little shelter, finding none he went on to put back his armor and cloak, he took a moment to consider his helmet but decided against tugging it on his belt.

With everything in check he left his little shelter and went to the loading bay where everything looked the same as he left them. He quickly found a mirror and checked himself before he left. His black hair despite being short was a mess from weeks of grueling work for the Mechanicus, his brown eyes looked tired with bags being visible underneath them and the most prominent part of his face being the burn scars on the left side of his face. Those scars were the reason why he couldn't let his beard grow anymore as the hair would grow weird and would look stupid.

He then tried to smother his hair as best as he could, checked if any of his gear was visible through the cloak and then he was on his way exiting through the back entrance into an alley.

Moving to the end of it he looked into the street for any people, surprisingly seeing a couple moving, albeit sending wary looks in random directions as if someone would jump out and kill them. He then slipped into the street trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. The end result was quite favorable as people simply ignored him as passed them.

Several streets of wandering aimlessly he stumbled upon something that surprised him. On the wall he saw a holographic image of him with the words 'Wanted' written in a weird style. The picture showcased him in his armor firing the laser rifle in a rather weird position somehow making his butt stand out

_Bloody hell they got my bad side_ he mused to himself, he then heard as someone stopped next to him and looked at the poster.

"Bloody piece of work ain't he?" The stranger said as he turned to Aaron

Playing the act Aaron nodded before replying "And a nasty one at that, heard he gunned down over two dozen soldiers."

"Only two dozens?" the stranger asked "I heard like it was like four dozens"

"Who knows..." Aaron replied keeping up the act

The stranger remained silent for a second before he continued "You know, I keep telling my friends that one of these days the rebels are gonna cross the line and look what happened. A whole neighborhood in curfew, five buildings burned to the ground and who knows how many people dead... all because one upstart terrorist wanted to fight the Empire."

Aaron remained silent, keeping a straight face as he heard what he had done last night _By the Emperor, I didn't want this_ he thought grimly to himself listened as the stranger ranted

"And not only that but I heard he also murdered that cute reporter from channel five, Zegana."

keeping up the act Aaron reacted surprised, being himself surprised at how good he managed to act "Really?" he asked

"Yea... and in such a brutal way too, execution style... headshots."

"Such a waste..."

"yea."

They remained silent as they looked at Aaron's poster before the stranger turned to look at Aaron "Don't mind me saying this, but you look like you could use more sleep."

Quickly coming up with a lie Aaron replied "I know, those bastards are working us like slaves"

The stranger slowly nodded his head "I know what you mean, ever since the Empire was formed work has become more and more demanding over the years."

After a couple of seconds the stranger turned and made to leave "It was nice talking to you uhh..."

"Krask"

"It was nice talking to you Krask."

Aaron remained silent as the man made to leave but suddenly called out to him "Hey! wait!"

The man stopped and looked back

"Yea? What is it?" he asked

"I'm new in town, moved in a couple of week ago and I still haven't figured out my way around... could you please point me towards the nearest space port?"

The stranger nodded before replying "No problem, the northern one is in that direction" he pointed down the street opposite of him "If you follow this road you'll see it before you reach it"

Aaron nodded and replied "Thanks, I really appreciate the help" and he was genuine about this

"Take care now, and watch out for the terrorist, he's still at large" with that the stranger departed

Aaron remained silent for a moment before he started making his way in the direction he was pointed. Along the way he came across one intersection in which he fought last light. White armored soldiers were patrolling all around with a couple of walkers that resembled the Sentinel assisting them. Making himself look as irrelevant as possible he managed to pass them with not problem as he continued on his way.

About two hours of constantly walking in a straight line he finally reached the space port. It being a rather medium sized one with only a dozen hangars that looked like they could only house shuttles. He silently sent a prayer to the Emperor as he entered it.

Inside he found a lot of people and soldiers moving about the place, he was very close to just lifting his lasgun and opening fire on the crowd but decided against as it would surely blow his cover. He started looking about the place inspecting several ships he found interest in, finally setting his eyes on a rather intricate one, with a rather boxy shape and with what looked like a cargo hold strapped to its back.

He slowly approached it and saw that a rather good looking woman in what looked like space flight garments was speaking to a couple of people. She finished talking just in time as Aaron neared her ship. When she saw him a frown formed on her face as if this was a common thing happening to her

"Can I help you with something?" she asked in a rather annoyed voice. Aaron was taken aback with how blunt the woman was and took a couple of seconds to reply

"Yes, I was wondering where you're next destination is" he replied

"Malastare, and if you want a ride you're gonna have to pay"

"Y-yes i have money" Aaron slightly stuttered as he replied before showing her a handful of those small plates

She looked at his palm before shaking her head "Not good enough."

A frown formed on Aaron's face as he looked at his stolen money

"What? Squatter doesn't have enough? Well get in line... You're not the first one to want a free ride this day and I'm getting sick of it"

"What's going on here?" Both of them turned to look at a newcomer. Aaron looked at a man that was dressed like an officer flanked by two soldier coming their way

"Yes officer" the woman began "This man here has been bothering me and doesn't want to leave" the officer turned to look at Aaron with a frown on his face

"Is he now?" he asked before turning his attention to Aaron "What do you want? Who are you? Show me your identification papers immediately"

Thinking quickly Aaron replied "I forgot them home" the officer didn't seem convinced

"Then you'll have to come with us, Troopers restrain him." Aaron already knew how this would turn out, he couldn't let them restrain him as that would allow them to find his gear. In a split second he brought his lasgun up and let loose a hail of shots, instantly killing the soldiers. The officer only had a moment to react surprised as he too was gunned down.

At hearing shots in the Space port panic settled in as people started to run to safety while the soldiers tried to keep everyone calm. Aaron turned to look at the pilot only to find her staring with a horrified expression at him

"You're... you're" She tried to speak but couldn't

"GET ON THE BLASTED SHIP!" Aaron yelled at her pointing his weapon. She stared at him for a moment before gears started turning in her head. She nodded quickly and dashed up the ramp of her ship, with Aaron right behind her. As they reached the top she pressed a button on the wall and the ramp started to ascend, just in time as soldiers started to move towards them

"Get this ship in the air now!" Aaron ordered, she quickly made her way to the cockpit and started tapping keys. The ship thrummed with power as it's engines activated. After a couple of moments they rose from the ground and off they were.

Aaron looked as the woman worked, a couple of minutes later a transmission came through the ships vox "Ship designated D-7177, this is Naboo Imperial High Command, you are ordered to return to the planet immediately or face imminent termination, this is your first and only warning!"

"Keep going." Aaron ordered

"But they'll shoot us down!" she pleaded

"Does this ship have Warp Drives?" he asked

"Warp Drives?" she asked confused "If you mean hyperdrive then yes."

"Good, I'll need a navigator to guide us through the warp. Get us out of this city." he continued

"I'm sorry but why do we need an navigator? I can just set coordinates and we'll be on our way!" She exclaimed before turning her face towards the board "Oh no... TIE fighters closing in!"

Aaron was conflicted, on one hand stood enemy fighters coming to destroy him and on the other stood a dimension in which monstrosities resided and this woman said she could just set coordinates? He finally decided that placing his trust in this woman was his best bet of survival

"Get us in the warp then!" he ordered, the woman immediately setting to work. By now their ship had already breached the surface and was in the vacuum of space

"Entering hyperspace now!" she exclaimed and then the stars elongated into white lines

"By the Emperor..." Aaron said as he couldn't believe his own eyes "What is this!?" he shouted at the woman, she visibly recoiled as she turned to face him

"It's the hyperspace! Don't tell me you don't know what it is!" she exclaimed fearfully

"Never seen it before in my life." He replied calming a little, she just looked at him as if he was insane "What?" he asked

"It's just... everybody in the galaxy knows what hyperspace is. It's the standard faster then light travel module."

"What do you mean 'everybody in the galaxy'? One hundred percent of humanity utilizes the warp drive. Maybe you mean the population of this so called Galactic Empire knows what hyperspace is but the rest don't."

She looked perplexed over the mention of the warp drive but Aaron didn't want to continue discussing it as even for him it was a complicated matter, he chose to change the subject to a more relevant topic

"So uhh... where are we going now?" he asked looking out the window

"Well, when you told me to get us in the hyperspace I set course to the planet of Enarc. It used to be part of the banking clans back before the war but when the Empire was formed it was nationalized and nowadays sees very little visitors" She replied not looking from the board

Aaron nodded and felt satisfied that they were going somewhere remote. Maybe then he could get his bearings, Speaking of which...

"I would like to see some maps of the local star systems if you please, would be nice to get my bearings and know were i need to go."

She remained silent for a couple of seconds before replying "Very well, although i have only one map containing all know star systems"

"That will suffice" Aaron replied as he made his way to her side. She started pressing keys on her board and a holographic map of the known galaxy appeared. he then started studying it and after a couple of seconds of staring at it a frown adorned his face

"What... This doesn't make sense." he muttered to himself, the woman heard him and turned to look at him

"Is there something wrong?" she asked

"Its just... none of this makes sense." he said waving at the hologram "here" he pointed somewhere in the middle "Here is supposed to be the Eye of Terror, but where is it? And not only that, but none of these star systems make sense... none of this aligns to the known galaxy..." he remained thoughtful for a couple of minutes as he stared at the map. The woman also remained silent although a little unnerved by what he was saying _What does he mean by Eye of Terror... and the star systems don't align? This man is totally insane. _she thought to herself as she looked out the window

Aaron on the other half was in deep thought pondering a possible event that happened when they were pulled into the contraption back on Bathona. _Did we get thrown into another galaxy? That's just not possible... but still, it all adds up. The weird weapons, the soldiers, the xenos, this faster than light travel and these star systems with no Eye of Terror..._ He took a deep breath to clear his mind before he turned to his supposed hostage

"I have one last question" she looked at him and nodded "This Hyperspace of yours, is it safe?"

The woman remained silent for a couple of moments contemplating her response before she replied "Relatively, the only real threat is setting in the wrong coordinates and crashing your ship at light speed but other than that its totally safe"

Aaron nodded before continuing "And you, are you a skilled pilot?"

She smiled before patting the ships board "Been flying this ship for the past thirteen years of my life. I know this ships ins and outs better than my home on Bespin"

"Could you teach me?" That question took her off guard as she turned to him and narrowed her eyes

"To what, teach you and then have you kill me and take my ship?"

"Of course not, you've been very helpful and I never intended to kill you. Besides, if you would of taken my money none of this would of happened."

She slowly shook her head "You only had twenty seven credits... Its not enough to buy a space ticket... Stars, its not enough to buy a pack of death sticks."

"Very well... but my question still stands, will you teach me?"

She remained silent for a couple of minutes contemplating her decision, finally conceding she slowly nodded "Very well... I'll teach you the basics when we make planet fall."

"When will that be?" Aaron asked

"A couple of hours we'll reach the system."

Nodding he turned to walk out but stopped just before leaving the bridge as he started to feel his wounds hurting again. "Do you have a first aid kit around here?" he asked looking back

"There's one in the toilet and one in my room, pick whatever you choose"

Nodding he left and made his way through the corridor to a room which he realized was hers. He spotted the kit on the wall next to her desk and emptied it on her bed. He found a couple of bandages, some painkillers pills and a couple of vials filled with a strange liquid. Grabbing a glass of water he drowned a couple of pills before setting his eyes on the bandages and vials. Taking one vial in his hand he read the word 'Bacta' on its side_ its the same thing that old man mentioned when i got here._ Sighing he sat on the bed and started removing his armor. With it out of the way he went on to take off the bandages he used, he was about to apply the new ones when his eyes sat on the vials_ Why not..._ he thought as he took one and opened it.

It had no smell, was gelatinous and quite thick to the touch. Dropping a couple of drips on his open palm Aaron felt a hot sensation course through his hand, it quickly subsided as the liquid was absorbed into his body _This looks promising_ he thought as he started smearing the liquid on the bandages.

As he started applying the bandages a hot sensation started spreading through his body as the pains started to dull

"This stuff's amazing" he spoke to himself as he felt the soothing hotness the liquid provided. This was the very first moment his body managed to truly relax ever since he got here as he laid on the bed staring as the ceiling contemplating _What am i gonna do now... What purpose do I have without the Imperium? _he thought before deciding that he would worry another time as he closed his eyes and let himself asleep.

* * *

He woke up to find the woman sitting at her desk, staring at him. Aaron suddenly felt tense but then relaxed as he saw that she was unarmed, He looked at his Wrist DataSlate to find he slept for only three hours. He was surprised how good he felt over such a small period of sleep but said nothing about it. He rose to a sitting position looking at the woman before he asked

"What is it?"

She was silent for a second before replying "You look like a mess... Regardless, I wanted to inform you we had arrived on Enarc about an hour ago but you were asleep so i waited."

"Very well, I'm grateful you didn't try anything while i was asleep" he genuinely said

The woman slowly shook her head before replying "Even if I did I doubt I would have gotten very far, you look like you could win a fight against a couple of guys. Hey, don't mind me asking, but who are you? You don't look like a rebel to me."

Aaron remained silent contemplating if telling someone who he is or where he came from is a wise choice or not. Deciding that it wasn't he shook his head before replying

"Who I am doesn't concern you, what should concern you is teaching me how to operate your people's ships"

The woman's expression remained unchanged as she slowly nodded "Very well, if you don't wanna talk its fine. Get yourself dressed then come to the bridge." She then rose up and left the cabin leaving Aaron alone.

He quickly got himself dressed and went to the bridge. The next hour was spent with the woman explaining how most of the equipment on her ship worked and that the template was nearly the same on every ship. Aaron didn't really understand everything but managed to understand how some of the equipment worked, such as the radar, the radio station and how to start the engines and get the ship in the air, to actually fly it was out of the question as he would need years to truly master it. Right now the woman was explaining how the hyperspace worked, explaining how the coordinates worked and how the computer would set the correct path to take.

"Hold on a minute." Aaron said holding up a hand "You mean to tell me that you punch in some coordinates from the galactic map and the AI gives you the correct path?"

"That's the gist of it, but yes." she replied looking rather pleased with how she went from hostage to teacher in the span of three hours

"And you never thought it might turn on you or something?" Aaron's paranoia was getting the best of him, but still he had to admit AIs could be deceiving and if one as important as the one setting the path for FTL travel could go rogue many tragedies would ensue

"Not really, it's sole purpose is to calculate every possible path and choose the closest one. You could call it a giant calculator if you'd like."

"Whatever you say, although I gotta admit its much faster the what we use." saying that seemed to peak the woman's interest as she leaned in a little

"You did say you people used warp drives, how do they work?" Aaron once again returned to the same question he had before, should he tell her or not? Sighing he started to explain as best he could

"You see, my people don't have the hyperspace, we travel with the help of an alternate dimension we call the warp. Its a dangerous place filled with the worst kind of abominations that would stop at nothing to destroy everything." the woman at first looked surprised but then calmed herself

"Earlier you mentioned navigators when you were freaking out, who are they?" she asked

"As the name implies, they are a specific strand of human breed that can guide us through the warp."

"So they're the protectors of the ships?"

"No, they just guide the ships through the warp. What protects them is a special shield called 'the gellar field' that activates whenever a ship enters the warp."

"And how do the two compare? The hyperspace and you warp?" She asked leaning forward

"Very differently, I can tell you that your Hyperspace is much more superior then the warp drive. It took us a couple of hours to get to this planet where it would of taken a couple of days with a warp drive."

"A couple of days..." The woman muttered to herself "How do you people get by?" she further asked

"With patience in our hearts" that reply made her smile

"You know" she started "I think I start to form a picture about you."

"And what do you see?"

"That you're not from this galaxy, am I correct?"

"Yes, that's why I didn't understood the star systems of this place."

"Still, that begs the question, whats the Eye of Terror?"

That caught him off guard, she quickly saw the change in his face and quickly added "If you don't wanna talk about it I understand."

Aaron raised his hand to reassure her "No, its okay... The Eye of Terror... It's a crack in the fabric of space between our world and the warp. It appeared some fifteen thousand years ago and has been slowly eating its way across the galaxy encompassing everything in its path"

Her face dropped after hearing what it was "Wait, you mentioned that monsters dwelled in the warp. Do they attack from the eye?"

Aaron took a deep breath before he replied "Yes and no, the creatures of the warp can't exist in our world physically but can be summoned for short periods of time. The things that attack from it though are people from the planets that were swallowed by the eye... and even worse... Traitors..." those last words he muttered so only he could hear them, He then turned to look at her with a bewildered expression "You know, I thought that after I'd tell you all of this information you'd just call me a looney."

"At first yes, but then I started to see a clearer picture." she replied with a small smile.

That smile disappeared when she asked the next question

"Did you do it on purpose?" she asked looking him dead in the eyes

"Do what on purpose?"

"Back on Naboo. Did you start that battle on purpose?"

"No... I didn't even knew what was going on around me at the time... I had only gotten here only about twenty minutes before the soldiers started popping up. Then they immediately opened fire on me and one thing led to the other and now I'm here."

She nodded slowly before adding "And those building that had burned, what about them?"

"I was taking cover inside a clothing store and wanted to cut the soldiers path so i lit a couple of clothes on fire. I never expected it to spread so much."

"Do you regret any of that?"

"Of course I do, I never wanted any of this. I was ready to die with my brothers in arms just moments before I got sent here." that seemed to pique her interest once more but restrained herself before she added another thing

"And the reporter you executed? Zegana Orduna was her name, what about her?" she asked narrowing her eyes

Sighing Aaron started rubbing his eyes contemplating how to adress his xenophobia, settling with the easiest answer he could find "That was just my zeal speaking."

"So you're a xenophobe, you hate aliens." she said surprisingly remaining calm

"It's not that, It's just-" he didn't get to finish as the board came on flashing some warnings. The woman quickly went to work tapping several keys before an horrified expression settled on her face

"There's a TIE fighter coming straight at us and we don't have the shields up!" She exclaimed looking over the data. A couple of moments later the ship shook as the so called TIE fighter fired at it

"It hit our engines! We're sitting ducks!" she continued

Aaron quickly donned his helmet and unholstering his weapon making himself ready for a battle. The woman stayed in her seat tapping keys on the board

"It's circling again!" The ship came in view through the front port, surprisingly passing them over as it didn't fire a single shot

"What the..." Aaron muttered to himself

"It's... It's landing?" she asked confused looking back at Aaron

"Whats that supposed to mean?" he asked just as confused

"Pilots don't do that... whoever it is, its dangerous." she replied

"whatever" he said as he turned to move towards the the exit, stopping just as he was about to leave the bridge "Don't mine me asking but I never got you're name"

A small smile formed on her lips as she replied "Sarah, Sarah O'neill"

"Aaron Webb but everyone calls me Krask"

"Very well 'Krask' be careful" with that he turned and left, quickly reaching the exit ramp he pushed the same button Sarah pushed when they first departed and the ramp came down revealing a rather arid wasteland before him.

Descending the ramp he quickly made his way to the side of the ship where the so called TIE was located. He didn't really knew what to expect of the machine. The cockpit being a sphere in the middle with two hands going out of its side to dagger shaped wings. Aaron slowly shook his head at the ridiculous display _I bet an Avenger Class could outperform this ridiculous contraption_ he mused to himself. A hatch on top of the fighter opened but Aaron didn't make any move_ If they had the balls to land might as well give them a fair fight_ out of it climbed a person clad in black clothing with an intricate helmet and to Aaron's surprise. A cape. Starting examining the individuals clothing he quickly realized this was in fact a woman, most notably the breasts adorning her chest. Deciding that taking a quick jab at the Empires lack of aesthetics was a good idea Aaron said

"Your ships look ridiculous" the words coming out heavily distorted by his helmets speaker. The woman didn't reply, instead she simply jumped off the fighter down on the ground as if it was nothing

_Okay... that was weird_ Aaron thought to himself as looked as the woman approached, stopping a good meters away. For a couple of moments the two inspected one another, with Aaron quickly realizing that she had no weapons on her _This just got a lot weirder_

The silence was broken when the woman spoke up in a voice almost as distorted as his "Before we begin, I have a single question for you."

"Speak"

"What are you?"

That confused Aaron to no end "wha- what?" he confusedly asked as he looked at the strange woman

"You are an anomaly in the force, I cannot sense you."

"You're speaking crazy."

The two stood silent for a second before both springing into action with Aaron drawing his weapon and letting loose two bursts at the woman who through inhuman reactions jumped out of the way landing gracefully before taking a weird hilt from her belt which she activated

Red lights came from both end of the hilt as she started spinning it before falling into a combat pose. _Energy saber? Why does it always have to be melee?_

He then fired another burst which to his own surprise the woman deflected each shot, with one nearly hitting him in the shoulder as it passed by. He then started aiming at different parts of her body firing as he did but she managed to deflect every single one of them. She then pressed a button on her saber that made the blades spin and much to Aaron's surprise and horror she threw it at him

Tempestus Scion training taking over he leaped to the side narrowly avoiding the blade as it passed by him and to his surprise back in the woman's hand

"Just who the frak are you!" He shouted angrily at the woman

"Your nightmare" she replied in a oddly calm voice

Wasting no time he brought his lasgun to bear and let loose a couple more shots in different parts of her body, and like before she deflected each and everyone of them. She then leaped like four meters through the air towards him, saber held high aimed to his head. His training taking over he jumped out of the way just as she landed hard creating a large puff of smoke, she then immediately was on him saber being swung at him in deadly arc he almost every time narrowly avoided before feeling himself being swept from the ground and thrown into the hull of Sarah's ship hard enough that the he lost the grip of his weapon.

Grunting in pain he fell on his stomach and locked up just in time to see the woman jumping at him again with her saber held high aiming for his chest. Rolling out of the way just as she landed he sent a strong kick to the back of her legs prompting her to loose balance falling and losing her grip on her saber as it fell away

Both of them quickly jumped to their feet before turning to face each other. Aaron quickly sent a fist towards her head which she quickly sidestepped before throwing a couple of jabs at him making him go on the defensive as he tried to stop each jab failing as some of them found their marks making him grunt in pain

Then through some coincidence both of them threw fists at each others faces, disorienting them both as they moved away from each other. Shaking away the dizziness he turned to look at the woman who stood staring at him with one of her hands outstretched to her back as her saber through some kind of sorcery flew in her hand activating. Quickly looking for his weapon and spotting it he quickly dashed for it, and just as he was to grab it it was grabbed by some invisible force and dragged away from him, dragged right in the outstretched hand of his opponent.

they stood silent for a moment before the woman started speaking "I expect more from my prey" she said as she threw his weapon back at him "Now fight" she continued with that oddly calm voice of hers

Catching his weapon Aaron quickly brought it to bear as he sent two bursts at her which she easily deflected she then came at him again swinging her saber at him making him duck roll out of the way

The fight was becoming annoying in Aaron's opinion as she deflected all of his shots and he avoided all of the swings from her sword. Thinking quickly he pulled out his last grenade and threw it without priming it. Thankfully the woman didn't see this as she used her sorcerer powers to throw it back at Aaron, prompting him to catch it and place it back on his belt. This seemed to confuse the woman as her helmet tilted to the side, giving him enough time to lift his weapon and fire. She was not fast enough to react in time and out of the five shots he fired, one managed to hit her in her right leg.

Aaron heard her grunt in pain and a smile formed on his face _Bleed sorceress. _She looked down at her leg before looking back at him. He made the ancient 'Come at me' sign and she nodded leaping across the field with inhuman strength which surprised Aaron as he jumped out of the way narrowly missing another shot. He quickly got to his feet and saw her saber coming down on him. He wasn't fast enough as it came down and grazed him on side he was already wounded making him cry in pain as he fell on one knee

He then turned to look at her as she stood a couple of meters away from him mockingly making the same sign he used earlier. That only made him seething with hate as he got to his feet

"What I'd give for a melta gun just about now" he muttered to himself

"That won't help you." she spoke to him from where she was standing "I've had enough fun, now is the time to finish this."

Aaron nodded and immediately let a hail of lasfire pepper his opponent as she started running towards him saber deflecting every shot he fired, one of his shots deflecting back at him, hitting in the shoulder making him stumble giving his opponent enough time to lunge at him. by some kind of miracle he managed jump out of the way falling on his stomach. His opponent seizing the opportunity and swinging her saber in a wide arc she made to cut his head off. Only through sheer luck he managed to roll out of the way making her slash the ground

She stood still looking at the ground he was in before her eyes setting on his grenade that laid there primed and ready. She quickly looked at him as he also stood there looking at the grenade before looking back at her. A moment passed and both of them scrambled away from the grenade. Aaron was too slow and was caught in the blast and thrown back landing on his back. His armor held but the shrapnel did a number on his arms and legs. He tried to get up but found out he couldn't, so he did the only thing he could. He accepted his fate, as he laid there staring at the sky waiting for his opponent to come and finish him off.

At first he thought that she died in the blast but then heard footsteps coming to him, coming into view as his opponent gazed down upon him. Her cape managed to get torn and some sections on her pants were ripped with blood oozing out. Still it didn't stop her from standing above him triumphant

"I win" She said as she sent a kick in Aaron's face

The last thing Aaron saw was a black boot flying in his face before the world went dark.

* * *

Author's note: Man fight scenes are hard...

Anyway, here's the second chapter of my little project. I touched some concepts about technology from both universes and compared them.

Don't expect any more action in the coming chapter as I plan to give our little Anti-hero some background information.

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved

Edit: A friend of mine notified me of a little inconsistency regarding the daemons of the warp, about how they cannot exist physically but can be summoned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**"Captivity"**

To say that Aaron was surprised was an understatement. Not only did he get taken prisoner by those imperials, but they also decided that treating his wounds was a great idea as when he finally came to he was inside a tank filled with that bacta liquid thing. He panicked for a little before calming down as a wave of tranquility washed over his body. He then settled for checking his surroundings, difficult as it was to see through the thick, gelatinous liquid he could see that he was wearing nothing but his underwear and that he was in a room that looked like it belonged to a medical section more advanced than anything he has seen so far.

Around him he could see two soldiers and a officer. One soldier was carrying a large bundle and was talking with the officer while the other soldier was monitoring a panel next to his tank. When they noticed that he was awake the officer left to Emperor knows where while the soldiers remained. He didn't know how long he spent in that tank but eventually a couple more soldiers alongside another officer that was clearly more important from the fact that his chest sported more of those weird colored squares than the last guy came back into the room.

They spoke briefly before the soldier on the panel got to work, taking Aaron out of tank and depositing him on the floor. Just as he looked up Aaron saw the officer throwing him a towel.

"Clean yourself and listen up boy." the man spoke with an eccentric voice "You are a prisoner aboard my ship, and if you want to be treated humanely you will follow by my rules, is that understood?"

Aaron was about to finish cleaning his arms as he looked up "And what are these rules you speak of?"

"You will follow every order you are given, you will answer any question you are asked and spirits help you if I hear you trying to escape."

Aaron snorted and then replied "Might as well go with inhuman treatment because I'm not going to tell you people anything."

The officer stood silent for a moment before replying "So be it." He then turned and left, leaving the soldiers behind to guard Aaron

After he cleaned himself he received the bundle the soldier was carrying, finding inside prisoner garments. He quickly donned them and then the soldiers placed on his wrists some kind of energy shackles that rendered his ability to move his hands. Then they took him towards the prison block, locking him in a cell and then going on their way.

Once he was sure he was alone he started to check the place for any ways to escape, finding none as the only other thing leading out of the room was a ventilation shaft the size of his fist. Sighing he looked at that he had in the room _Two bunk beds on each side of the room, a mirror and a toilet that offers no privacy... better than nothing i guess._

Hours went by as he waited for anyone to come but nobody did, prompting Aaron to fall into boredom. From simply pacing about the room to counting the seconds all the way to staring into nothing he tried to keep himself busy and failed miserably. Sighing Aaron sat down in one of the beds and quickly fell into deep thoughts _What am I gonna do now... At the mercy of these people with no means of escape... And even if I do escape, what then? I don't have a place here... Not in this galaxy... The light of the Emperor hasn't graced these people... They're consorting with xenos for Holy Terra's sake!... But then again, they didn't have to endure millennia long wars of attrition against them..._

His thoughts were interrupted when the door finally opened revealing two soldiers that were waiting outside. One of them made a hand gesture for Aaron to come with them. Seeing no other option and knowing that disobeying would mean a beating would be in order Aaron slowly made his way to them.

They led him through the endless corridors of the ship, occasionally pushing him to move faster, _Lot's of arrogance coming from the guys that can't shoot straight. _They finally stopped at a door, inside Aaron found out it was an interrogation room with nothing but a table on the other side of the room. The soldiers pushed him in and then locked the door, leaving him alone again.

He went and sat down and waited about half an hour before the door opened revealing the officer from before flanked by two soldiers. They came in stopping in front of him. The officer seemed to study him for a second before he spoke up.

"I'm afraid I have to apologize for the delay of your interrogation but there were many distractions that I unfortunately had to attend..." He spoke with a bored, uninterested tone "Regardless, we can now begin."

"What happened to Sarah?"

"Who?" the officer asked a little surprised

"The hostage that I took."

"Aah, well, she was just a civilian caught in the middle. After we interrogated her we let her go, and I must say that she revealed quite a bit of information about you."

Aaron narrowed his eyes looking at the table "Traitor..." he muttered to himself

"Not quite" the officer replied "As I said before, she was nothing more than a normal civilian loyal to the Empire caught in the crossfire, but we digress." He started pacing back and forth around the table, the soldiers remaining still where they stood never breaking form _At least they're disciplined._

"I already know your name Aaron, so I feel it is only right for you to know mine." the man spoke without caring that Aaron was glaring at him "I am Admiral Ordol Kresh, commander of the Star Destroyer 'Avalon'."

Aaron fought the urge to roll his eyes at the man's self introduction as he impatiently waited for him to stop. When he did he turned to look at Aaron

"Now that the introductions are out of the picture we can delve into more interesting matters... such as your origins"

Aaron tensed at that knowing that Sarah most likely told them about his outer galactic nature. If these people had the technology to invade the Imperium in another galaxy then he would be damned if he told them anything

"I already know about your outer galactic origin from the civilian, I want to know about your galaxy, about your people and your government. I want to know what kind of army creates soldiers that can stand up to force users such as the inquisitor."

Aaron's brows raised when he heard the last word "Wait, that woman was a inquisitor?" he asked as a small grin formed "Gotta say she nailed the cape, although I didn't see copious amounts of gold on her uniform so she's gotta work on that."

The Admiral's face turned to one of confusion as he heard the reply "I... I don't understand, what does gold have to do with being an inquisitor?"

"Just an inside joke among the Imperial army"

"That as well, from the equipment we have scavenged from the sight on Naboo I can tell that your military is very well equipped. From heat resistant armor plates to battery packs with solar panels installed in their outer casings I can say that your military favors long term deployment and quality."

Aaron actually burst out laughing, catching all of the men off guard as they glared at him

"Whats so funny prisoner?" the Admiral asked with a hint of anger

"Nothing... nothing..." Aaron managed to calm himself to actually speak "Its just... all of the equipment you have scavenged is just standard infantry equipment made for quantity, not for quality as you say. It usually doesn't last very long in the field."

"And what passes for quality if you don't mind me asking?" the Admiral replied with a annoyed tone

"I won't tell you, I won't betray the Emperor by telling others the power of his army"

The Admiral took a deep breath and started rubbing hi eyes "Look, we can have a nice civil discussion or we can resort to drastic measures." He threatened bringing his right arm up

"I already said something when we first met, what I said stands."

The Admiral took a resigned sigh then tapped a couple of keys on what looked like a wrist mounted comm "Second Sister you may enter"

After a couple of moments the door opened revealing the so called inquisitor that apprehended him. She stopped next to the Admiral as she gazed down at Aaron

"I already told you Admiral that my presence would be required for him to talk." she spoke not taking her eyes from the prisoner

"Well I tried being civil with the man, but he keeps refusing my attempts." the Admiral replied in a annoyed tone "You may begin when ready" He continued taking a step back

The inquisitor nodded moving closer to the table, stopping near the edge. She took a moment to gaze uninterested at Aaron before she spoke

"You perplex me to no end, anomaly. From your lack of connection to the force to your quick reflexes that saved your life more then once during our duel, you managed to quite impress me. So I'm giving you a choice, tell us everything we want to know and no pain shall be inflicted upon you."

Aaron was about to reply with a negative when a question suddenly popped in his mind

"Hold on a sec, what do you mean by anomaly? You called me that when we met too."

"The force doesn't course through you. You see, the force is in everything, it binds us together. I can feel everyone in the room, from the annoyance of the Admiral to the boredom of the troops, and then there is you, a void that cannot be felt, you exist but cannot be sensed. That is why I call you anomaly."

"Makes somewhat sense if you look at it from the sorcerous side, there is no force where I come from but that begs the question. What is the force?"

"You are being questioned, not me, so answer my question."

"I already told you people I won't speak so go ahead and torture me, my body won't break."

The inquisitor chuckled darkly as she leaned in "It won't be your body that will be tortured, rather it will be your mind."

Aaron had a second to widen his eyes as her hand grabbed the top of his hand. He immediately felt a tingling sensation at the back of his head which quickly turned into pain as he felt his mind being invaded.

Grunting in pain, he quickly thought back to what he would do when fowl warp sorcery would be involved, _keep an empty mind, think nothing at all. _It was surprisingly working as the pain lessened but the inquisitor did not let up. After about two minutes of causing constant pain she eventually retracted her hand

"You continue to intrigue me, anomaly. Despite being a non force sensitive you know how to keep a mind closed, albeit slow and sloppy." she said with a hint of interest in her voice as she gazed down at him

Aaron on the other half was glaring daggers at her through the pain that was caused to him

"Is... Is that... the best you got?" he managed out

"Of course not." she replied calmly as her hand shot out again grasping his head

This time Aaron was caught unprepared as pain tore through his mind much quicker than before. He screamed in pain as he struggled to remain awake. It was already the end of the first minute of torture that the Admiral decided to step in.

"Inquisitor that's enough! Another minute and we'll be looking at a drooling brain dead." He said angrily

Even through the pain Aaron could feel that she was smiling underneath her helmet

"If you say so, but I feel as I only got started." she replied in her awfully calm voice looking at the Admiral before turning to look at Aaron "Had enough?" she mockingly asked

"I... I hope the Tyranids will invade this galaxy." he managed to reply

"I'm sure they won't" she continued just as mocking "Now, will you answer our questions?"

"May the warp consume you..."

She suppressed a sigh as her hand made for his head. She was stopped when the Admiral spoke up

"No more of that! He had enough." he said as he came next to her. He quickly looked Aaron over "You already look like a mess." he spoke before turning to the troops "Take him back to his cell."

They moved to obey and before long Aaron was back in his cell.

Once he was alone he immediately crashed in one of the beds groaning in pain _Accursed witchery! Damn you to the warp!_ he cursed through the pain. In time the pain slowly subsided, giving way to weariness. He closed his eyes and in no time fell into a slumber.

* * *

Back in the interrogation room Second Sister was nothing if not angry. Not only did that impertinent Admiral take charge of the anomaly's interrogation but he also insisted upon more humane ways of interrogating him. If he had let her continue with her mental attacks she would of broken into the anomaly's mind and taken whatever they needed, regardless whether he would survive or not.

"You test my patience Admiral" she spoke with a calm but rather dark tone, he simply looked at her with uninterested eyes "You know that I want results, I don't care if he dies or not, I will have answers"

The admiral nodded before replying "And so you shall... You see, when you brought him on board you went to the medics immediately and were not present when we oversaw his equipment."

She remained silent for a second before replying "Is there something of his possession that could answer our questions about him?"

"There's a possibility, he had a wrist mounted computer that the chief engineer is currently trying to hack into. If you'd like we can go to him now."

"That would be very good."

The two then went down in engineering where the evidence room was located. Inside lied many wall mounted tables with various bits and pieces of armor, weapons all the way to the unknown droids from the sight on Naboo. They made their way to the chief engineer that was currently working on a datapad hooked up in the wrist computer of the anomaly

"Chief engineer Darik report" the Admiral said from the mans back

The engineer spun almost too quickly as he saluted "Nothing new to report sir, the hacking process is still ongoing but won't be completed in at least five to six hours sir."

"Excellent" he said turning to the inquisitor "You'll have his wrist computer in six hours"

She nodded as she started to leave the room. Once she was gone the men resumed their conversation

"So what can you tell me about all of this equipment" The admiral asked

A smile formed on the engineers face as he looked back "Quite a lot actually, you were already here when we deduced the solar panels in the battery charges, but you weren't here when we test fired them" he said pointing to a bunch of guns in a rack "From what we can deduce their weapons fire continuous beams of photons which are comparable to our blasters, although they are slightly superior in terms of speed and penetration thought."

"And what about those" the Admiral asked pointing to a bunch of droid body parts, most notably a head connected to a portable computer

"Where do I begin with those..." the engineer muttered "Firstly we don't even know which design they are as they simply are too old to discern. Secondly, they must of went from this galaxy to theirs as their weaponry is more comparable to ours than theirs, and thirdly which is the weirdest yet... listen here, when we first looked them over all of their programming was completely corrupted, it even spread to my personal data pad... I have to reinstall everything on the bloody thing... lost every picture of my wife too..."

"Focus man"

"yea right... focus, anyway, even with the corrupted programming we managed to activate one head, it's voice module was broken so we installed a new one... It started spewing crap about blood needing to be spilled and skulls to be taken to some kind of throne... I don't know, we just shut them off, tomorrow we'll scrap them."

"Very well, anything else?"

"No sir, I'll complete the hacking procedure and take the wrist computer to the inquisitor."

"Good, keep up the good work."

The Admiral then started moving towards the bridge feeling tired already _I could go for a cup of coffee just about now_ he thought to himself

* * *

It had been eight hours already and the wrist computer had not arrived to Second Sister, _I'm gonna kill that engineer for this delay._ She thought angrily making her way down to engineering.

When she entered the room she saw a bunch of random people sitting in chairs looking at a footage projected on the far wall by a projector hooked to the wrist computer. She quickly spotted the chief engineer and made her way to him, grabbing him as she reached him

"What is the meaning of this?" she darkly asked

"Inquisitor?! Oh... I'm... I'm sorry for the delay but surely you can understand" he said pointing at the wall. Truth be told, even she had to admit that she was surprised by what she saw

On the far wall was being projected some kind of combat footage. It was shoulder situated but it still showed a great deal of footage. She saw as the anomaly and a great deal of other soldiers were fighting their way through the ruins of a giant city, with spires breaching the clouds above. They were fighting some kind of overly muscled green alien species which sported mostly scrap armor and primitive weapons... still, they were cutting through the soldiers with ease. What truly got her attention was the weapon the anomaly used in the footage, being a bulky laser rifle with a large scope on top firing even more powerful beams than the other weapon he used cutting through the aliens with ease as he and his squad moved as one to assist the lesser equipped men. It was truly an apocalyptic sight, _What kind of galaxy does he come from? _she asked herself as she looked at the footage

She shook herself after a couple of minutes of watching the madness that was the footage before turning to the engineer

"I want that wrist computer now... dismantle everything and give them to me, I feel as if I'll need every second."

The man remained silent for a second before nodding

"Yes ma'am, right away!" he quickly got to work despite the whining of the workers around them

"All of you have jobs to do so do them" the inquisitor spoke aloud for everyone to hear

"But were on break..." on of the workers said

"Consider your break over then"

All of the workers except the chief engineer made themselves scarce as he unplugged the projector and the wrist computer before handing them to her

"Here you go Ma'am" he said handing the projector and wrist computer to the inquisitor

"It's inquisitor for you, and how information did you discover?"

"Yes inquisitor, and as for the information... there are years of footage in there I'm afraid."

"Years?"

He sheepishly nodded "Fifty five years to be exact... From the moment he was first deployed."

"What? That would make him like seventy or something..."

"I don't know, you'll have to see it for yourself I'm afraid."

Second Sister groaned out loud as she started making her way out of the room

_This just got a lot more complicated_

* * *

Aaron didn't know how much time passed, it felt as if weeks passed but he was never sure. After the first interrogation he was left in his cell and most likely forgotten about with the occasional soldier bringing him some prisoner food which was just some tasteless paste.

_This is your life now Aaron... You lost against the inquisitor and now you have to face the punishment... They should of just killed me... _he grimly thought to himself as he gulped another spoon of tasteless paste

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened revealing two soldiers waiting outside. One of them made the same gesture who knows how long ago and Aaron obeyed, putting the tray of paste next to him and making his way to them.

They took him to the same room as before, dumping him in and then leaving. Looking around Aaron found out he was not alone as the inquisitor stood next to the table looking at him. She then pointed at the chair behind it

"Please sit." she calmly said "There is much we need to discuss."

Aaron did as he was ordered, albeit with some anger towards woman that tortured him earlier. After he sat down he glared at her as she looked back most likely with uninterested eyes. When she finally spoke up she surprised Aaron to no end

"Your name is Aaron Webb but your friends call you 'Krask', you are seventy one years old and were born on the planet of Calverna, Your parents were captains in the navy but you never really got to spend much time with them as they were mostly on duty. When they died during combat you were pressed into the institution your people call 'Schola progenium' where you underwent training to become a 'Tempestus Scion' or as it is translated Storm Trooper. Your first deployment was during the later stages of the war that you call 'The second war for Armageddon' in which your original squad died. After the conflict you transferred from unit to unit, never staying in one place until you joined the four hundred forty second in which you joined Harvey Stone's squad years later. At age sixty you were supposed to retire yet you did not, instead you seduced a young noble woman and made her pay for rejuvenating treatment, disappearing after a one night stand. The only punishment you received was demotion from captain back to private. Before you came to our galaxy you were deployed on a planet by the name of Bathona to work for an inquisitor that did not survive the onslaught of the droids that laid dormant on the planet."

By the time she finished speaking Aaron's mouth was hanging wide open

"Watch out or flies might go in." she mockingly said

He took a second to register all that she said and coming up with nothing but a simple "But... How?!"

"Let's just say that I've done my homework as a inquisitor." she replied just as mocking

"But still... there is no other device with that kind of knowledge... That only means you prodded my mind when I was sleeping!" He accused angrily

She shook her head before replying "No, we just hacked in you wrist computer"

"Wrist what?... You mean the DataSlate? That only tells me the time, monitors my vitals and connects my shoulder mounted camera to my helmet."

She actually facepalmed "You have to be dumber than I thought... No, your so called DataSlate doesn't just do that, but it also works as an internal computer, storing video feeds from your camera and there are plenty of descriptions and reports about you in there as well. Most likely from the people that take care of your equipment."

"But why though?" He confusedly asked

"I don't know, most likely that when you die your people would know of your deeds."

"Somehow that makes me feel better about dying for the Emperor."

"Whatever suits you..." she muttered as she came close "Now, I want you to answer my questions"

"And what are your questions?"

"What is Chaos?"

Aaron closed his eyes and looked down "Of all the questions you could've asked..." he looked back up "Why do you even care though? Its not like you people utilize the warp."

"Its because when I started to look into it I started seeing trends, everything they do is to cause chaos and destruction, even we sith strive for control. They worship some dark depraved gods that you people call the ruinous powers and sacrifice everything in their names." she finished shaking her head

"Your point?" Aaron asked annoyed

"My point is, they're out there somewhere in your galaxy, hungering for more. If they find a way to get over here I don't believe the Empire could stand against them... Not with the army we currently have"

"Don't worry, the caverns we were fighting in were collapsing just as we came here so I don't think the ruinous powers will come the same way, if they ever will"

"Still though... Alas, I'm digressing, the second question I have for you is what will you do now in this galaxy of ours?"

Aaron remained silent for a couple of moments _What am I gonna do..._ "I don't know..." he replied looking down

"I can offer you a new life in service of the Empire. Serve me and you'll find new purpose."

"Why you though, why not just the simple military?"

She chuckled before replying "Would you pass up the chance to work with someone with skill and experience?" he shook his head "Then you know why I want to work with you, you have more experience under your belt then six platoons of simple stormtroopers. So what will it be?" she asked extending her arm

Aaron remained silent contemplating his next decision _Should I do it? Should I break my oath to the Emperor and work for other governments? And then there's the question, is she even human?_

"Are you human?" he asked looking up

"Ah yes... the Imperial xenophobia, cranked up to twenty in regards to aliens." she replied in an annoyed tone "Yes, I am indeed human"

"Show me."

Sighing she removed her helmet, revealing a beautiful face with light dark skin and short black hair falling only up to her shoulders. What stood out from her features were her glowing yellow irises she sported

"Your eyes are glowing..."

"Those do not concern you, now that you know I am indeed human what is your answer?"

"What kind of work do you do? Is it similar to the Imperium's inquisitors that hunt down dissidents and traitors?"

She nodded "Similar, my job as an inquisitor is to hunt down jedi across the galaxy"

"Are they traitors or something?"

"Yes, they betrayed the republic fifteen years ago when they tried to assassinate the chancellor. Nowadays they are nothing but a bunch of rabble running about causing terror wherever they go, now again, your answer?" she asked extending her hand again

Aaron was deep in thought as he contemplated whether or not he should accept her offer. _To be honest, I don't believe I'll ever get back to the Imperium... So why not... _he grabbed her arm and shook it

"Atta boy." she said quite pleased with his decision "Now, we just need to get you pardoned to officially begin work so bear with us. In the meanwhile get yourself a feel of this ship as it will become your home." she said as she removed the energy shackles he wore

"Pardoned? Pardoned for what?" Aaron confusedly asked

"For that massacre you caused when you came here, there's a total of fifty seven dead without the ones that came with you."

"Emperor above I didn't wanted that..." He muttered to himself

"Later I want to hear about your Emperor." she said as she left the room, a moment later one soldier came in gesturing him to come. There was only one thought in his mind at the moment

_A new world... A new beginning... Let's do this._

* * *

Author's note: This chapter was quite interesting to write if I say so myself

I know this chapter isn't as long at the other ones, reason is because it didn't involve much action but rather it gave Aaron some background information

This also signals the end of the first arc in Aaron's adventure.

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**"Imperial service"**

If there was any opinion Aaron had about the Galactic Empire it would be a very conflicted one. On one hand he was proud to know that the humans of this galaxy banded together and forged a galactic empire and launched what could be the equivalent of their own Great Crusade, even if it was under a different Emperor. And on the other he was disappointed to know that they did not exterminate every alien scum they came across, rather deeming them 'second class citizens'... or just slaves as he liked to believe.

Serving the inquisitor proved to be more challenging than he thought, as in only one month he was already at his wits end... Not because of the tasks she needed to accomplish, but rather the way she accomplished them. He hated her with a passion because she represented the worst types of inquisitors from back home. Brutal, cunning, cruel, uncaring of the loss of life as long as she got her way, but efficient as in only one month they destroyed two rebel cells and were already at their third. On each call they were summoned over mentions of jedi appearing on the battlefield, but every time it proved to be just soldiers seeing things. 'Wasted time' she calls it, but for him the end result is all that matters. That the rebels are put down.

Right now they alongside a contingent of troops from the 'Avalon' were assisting a strike force that was engaged with a rebel cell in the forests of a planet that he didn't really care about, _Why should I care at all? We'll be here for two days top then be off to another planet to shoot some rebels or kidnap some children_. If there was a true motivator for his hatred of her and the so called inquisitorius it was their desire to 'recruit' new force sensitives. He was essentially helping create an army of psykers or sorcerers or whatever they're supposed to be as they didn't fit none of the categories he knew about.

"Krask! Stop daydreaming and provide some cover fire!" His train thoughts were interrupted when he heard the order. Peeking from his cover behind a rather large tree he saw that the sergeant was pinned down behind a destroyed AT-ST walker. Bringing his lasgun to bear he let loose several bursts at the rebels prompting them back into cover, _These rebels are different... they're organized, they make use of the terrain for their advantage and have heavy weapons capable of destroying our support walkers_ He thought grimly keeping up the fire.

He then took a moment to overlook the battlefield. Most of the stormtroopers were scattered across the land, making use of whatever cover they could get while the inquisitor was somewhere in the distance on the right cutting a couple rebels in pieces. If there was something he learned from serving her, it was that she only toyed with him when they fought.

He was forced back into cover when several blaster shots came from two different directions "Fraking hell, Sergeant Holt! Enemy gunner, left side two hundred meters east! Fire when I give the signal!"

There was a short comm silence before the man replied "Alright, I see him! Just give me the signal!" he replied over the sounds of blaster discharges

"Hold on for a second..."

"Whats going on Krask?"

"Just a little more... NOW!"

Both men peeked out of cover and started peppering the area where the rebel was firing from, he didn't react in time and was cut down in seconds. Moments later two more rebels appeared from the same place only to meet the same fate.

"How did you know there would be more coming from there?" the sergeant asked impressed

"I saw them take cover in there a little while ago, seemed to disappear."

"I guess not." Another voice joined in

"Whats the status on the right flank Red?" the sergeant asked

"Same as everywhere sir. Even with the inquisitor with us these rebels are not letting up, its as if they don't want us to be here." he mused

"Keep up the fire, they'll break at one point."

Sure enough, after about ten minutes the rebels defense faltered. Seeing the gap in the enemy defense Aaron took to the left trying to flank the rebels whilst also laying down suppressing fire to cover his allies. Due to the lasgun's negligible recoil he was able to accurately shoot, managing to kill a rebel that was trying to flee.

When he reached the enemy line he took cover in an abandoned foxhole and readied himself to fire... only to find out that there was no one left to fight as the rebels had either fled or were already dead.

Checking the perimeter one more time and finding none he rose from the foxhole and started walking to the sergeant who was administering a bacta bandage to a wounded soldier

"Quite a hard battle, wasn't it?" Aaron said looking around

Holt remained silent as he continued bandaging the wounded. When he was done he rose up and turned to face Aaron

"Indeed, not the best engagement I went through in the last four months but it'll have to do."

"How many casualties?"

the man looked around the front, sighing and shaking his head as he turned back "Thirty five..."

"How many did we kill?"

"I don't know, but it surely looks like we lost more." Holt replied with anger in his voice. He then turned and started walking towards the right flank "Lets go see what orders the inquisitor has for us."

Aaron nodded and joined the man as they made their way to the inquisitor. They found her at the edge of the front looking deeper into the forest

"Perimeter secured inquisitor." Aaron was the first to speak

"Very good Aaron" under his helmet Aaron frowned when he heard his name. He told her countless times to refer to him by his nickname yet she dismissed them all favoring calling him by his real name, a name only his closest friends were allowed to use and she was far from it. At first he thought she was using it because she didn't know, but in time he realized she used it just to mock him.

"What are thy orders?" he asked keeping his emotions in check

"These rebels have been quite the unexpected nuisance." she said turning to look at them "I've authorized reinforcements from the Avalon to assist us in this operation." she continued turning to sergeant Holt "I want scouts on speeder bikes patrolling the forest in search of the rebel camp. Tell them to not engage any opposition"

The sergeant nodded then turned and left leaving Aaron alone

"I've also detected something in the force here." she said turning to Aaron "This day might not be wasted after all."

Aaron nodded "Was about time to fight a jedi, was getting bored with rebel scum."

"Regardless of what you wish the jedi will be my kill, is that understood?" she replied with a hint of challenge in her voice

"Yes inquisitor..."

She nodded then turned to look back into the forest "Such beauty, hiding so many scum."

"Wherever they may hide, we'll just put them down like the rest of them." Aaron replied from where he stood

"Indeed we will." she replied turning to face him again "I have no more need of you, you're dismissed."

Aaron nodded and was about to leave when she spoke up again "I forgot to mention this but we will need to speak of something when we get back on the Avalon. Something about your employment for the Empire."

"And why can't we discuss it now?" Aaron asked looking back

"Because I feel as it will compromise your attitude and I can't have that." she replied

"What kind of talk are we going to have?"

"You'll have to wait to find out, not get out of my sight." she replied with a slight edge to her voice

"Very well." Aaron conceded turning and walking away. He then went back to his little captured foxhole, dropping in and starting looking around. He found nothing but spent blaster charges and a small crate. He opened it and found nothing of worth but a couple magazine with disgusting xenos models and a small metallic pack. Opening the pack he found small transparent sticks with colored liquid inside, _Drugs?... No, no Death sticks, look more appealing than lho-sticks but are they better? _He thought to himself feeling intrigued by the drugs before him. He decided he would find out later as he pocketed them then leaned against the dirt wall and waited.

"You gonna sit in there all day long?" a voice called from outside

Aaron rose to his feet to look at the newcomer, finding Red waiting outside. He actually liked the guy, being able to actually hit his targets he was one of three other people Aaron tolerated, the others being Holt and a guy named Kyle.

"Better to sit in cover than be exposed." Aaron replied

"Come on man, the rebs ain't gonna catch us off guard. Enjoy yourself a little." Red said pointing to where a bunch of soldiers were playing cards on a rock

"Not my type of fun" Aaron said shaking his head. _How can people play cards out in the open on a frontline is beyond me_ He thought to himself

"You have to be the most 'No fun allowed' soldier I have encountered. Only you and the inquisitor are like this, hell if I understand ya'll."

"To indulge in these kind of games in times like these would result in losing my focus, and a focused mind is a-"

"A dangerous mind, I know I know." Red finished for him with annoyance in his voice "I mean, not even on the Avalon do I see you anywhere other than the training room, mess hall or at the inquisitor's side. You gotta learn to live life man."

"How I live my life does not concern you, now leave me be." Aaron replied with finality in his voice

"Whatever man." he went on his way leaving Aaron alone to his own devices _Damn rookie, if it wasn't for his competence in combat I wouldn't even speak to him _He thought to himself as he crouched back down.

After about twenty minutes the scouts returned bringing news about the location of the rebel base prompting Aaron to leave the confines of his foxhole and join the others. The rebel base was apparently an old military bunker they now resided in, having several turrets placed around the area in such ways that calling air support would be more of a detriment.

Typically the inquisitor wanted to attack right away "Aaron, you're with me." she ordered "We'll move in from three different locations surrounding the base. I want AT-ST walkers with each group to lay down suppressing fire. Scout troopers move in as skirmishers and harass their defenses. I've contacted the Avalon for an orbital bombardment so we'll be able to soften them up before we move in." she continued speaking to the officers present, all of them remaining silent and nodding along the way.

_Orbital bombardment... that's something I haven't thought of. If only the Imperium's military would be as united as the Empire's then we would of won a lot more wars than we did. _Aaron thought to himself as he listened on. So far the plan was sound, move into position, wait for the bombardment and then sweep in and clean up.

"If there aren't any questions then we can begin." She finished turning and starting to move in the direction of the enemy base prompting Aaron to move in to match her speed. They made their way through the woods quite fast and Aaron realized they had left their forces behind.

"We are getting far from the task force." Aaron said to the inquisitor

"It is not my problem if they lag behind." She replied continuing to move forward "I want to leave this planet by the end of the day, so keep up."

"We'll become easy targets for the rebels." Aaron said

"Speak for yourself" the inquisitor scoffed "These rebels are nothing but a nuisance to me. All I want now is to find the source of this feeling in the force and be done with it."

"Very well." Aaron conceded

The walk was quite uneventful and only some time later they heard the explosions from the bombardment in the distance. _Am I glad that I'm not one of those rebels_ he thought to himself as he carried on. They reached their position early and Aaron could feel the annoyance radiating from the inquisitor

"Slow pieces of Bantha shit..." Aaron could hear her mutter under her breath and decided to play the smart ass

"Well, if you only waited for them to catch up we would be up and attacking now." He tried his luck. It did not work as he could just picture the anger on her face as she gazed at him

"Are you questioning my authority?" She asked darkly

Aaron remained unmoved as he gazed back "Of course not, But sometimes it is better to take your time than to rush forth recklessly."

"If those useless soldiers had kept up we would be mopping up the rebels right now. If the purge troopers had not been phased out I wouldn't need normal soldiers." She angrily replied

"Purge troopers?" Aaron asked feeling confused

"Clones. More exactly the last batch of them before they were phased out." she replied uninterested

"Aah, that makes sense, having totally obedient troops would ensure that they would fight to the end in any circumstance... Still can't believe you people phased them out." Aaron replied muttering the last part to himself

"They were good soldiers but were expensive to produce and were aging twice as fast as normal humans." the inquisitor replied seemingly hearing the last part

Aaron was about to reply when he heard the iconic sound of the AT-ST walkers approaching. Turning to look in the direction from where the sound was coming he saw their strike force coming into view, soldiers in battle formations with walkers in the back. No sight of the scouts as they would move in from different locations

_Took their sweet time..._ He thought to himself looking at the incoming troops _Gotta give credit where credit is due. Despite their lapses they know how to maintain discipline and battle formations_.

When they reached their position the inquisitor wasted no time to address them "We'll move in immediately, form up!" she spoke keeping her anger in check, out in the distance the battle had already begun. The troops formed up and before they knew it they were in the thick of it.

The bunker seemed intact although the surrounding area was in shambles, with rebel corpses sprawled across the land and their defense turrets were all destroyed. Aaron took cover behind a tree when the rebels returned fire. Despite the bombardment there still were quite a few of them taking cover across the land in foxholes and artillery craters. The stormtroopers were charging the base from all around firing as they came, taking cover whenever they could before resuming their charge.

He leveled his lasgun and fired back at a couple of rebels taking cover in a crater prompting them back in cover. He switched his target to a rebel that was firing from near the bunked and gunned him down. He then felt someone tap him on the shoulder, turning to see the inquisitor with her lightsaber ignited.

"Come with me." She ordered taking off towards the bunker

Aaron quickly left his cover and started charging after the inquisitor, firing as he went. "For the Emperor!" he bellowed as he kept his finger on the trigger keeping a bunch or rebels pinned in a foxhole. The troops around him seemed to be motivated by his warcry as they doubled their efforts in the attack.

He quickly made his way to a foxhole where a rebel was situated. The entrenched rebel managed to hit him twice in the chest with his blaster, making Aaron stumble a little. He quickly regained his footing and leveled his lasgun to fire back only to find the rebel flying through the air right in the inquisitor's lightsaber. He then jumped in the now empty foxhole while the inquisitor deflected back each shot that the rebels shot at them. This gave him the opportunity to return fire without risking being hit, managing to kill a rebel that popped his head over the crater and another that was firing at the inquisitor.

"We're wasting time! Come on!" the inquisitor ordered taking off again towards the bunker's entrance

Aaron nodded and quickly got out of the foxhole and went after her. They quickly reached the blast door and the inquisitor got to work cutting a hole through. Meanwhile Aaron continued firing in the backs of the rebels that remained standing around the area. They didn't stand a chance against the imperial forces that were now closing in.

When the inquisitor breached through she immediately started cutting through scored of rebels on the other side. Aaron actually had to be careful where he shot as the inquisitor was all over the room cutting everything in sight. _She was just toying with me when we met!_ He thought to himself witnessing the slaughter before him. In the span of two minutes the Second Sister managed to kill over two dozen rebels.

"Search the bunker. I want to know everything about the place." She ordered as a couple stormtroopers came inside.

They quickly searched the place finding nothing of value but stopped when they found a door leading down below. The inquisitor tried to open it but it wouldn't budge so she cut a hole through it. Inside they found a large storage area filled to the brim with supplies and a dozen so rebels which were eager to open fire the second they came in.

Being out in the open Aaron could do nothing but stand his ground and return fire while other stormtroopers flooded in. The inquisitor on the other hand flung herself at the rebels, decapitating the closest one with a simple slash from her sword before using her sorcerous powers to levitate a rebel towards her and cutting him up.

In the meanwhile Aaron and the rest of the soldiers were trading blows with the rest of the rebels. A shot hit Aaron in his shoulder plate, doing nothing but making him stumble a little. He immediately returned fire towards the one that shot him, hitting him in the neck. The rest of the soldiers were doing similar, albeit with some stormtroopers already laying dead on the ground.

After a minute of trading blows with the Imperials the rebels buckled, scattering deeper into the room making the imperials to follow after them.

"Leave no survivors!" Sergeant Holt ordered charging after the rebels

Aaron took to the left, taking cover between a couple of containers and opened fire on a bunch of rebels that were running away, cutting them down in a hail of lasfire before resuming his charge alongside two more stormtroopers. They gunned down another rebel that was caught inbetween two other groups before being stopped at an improvised defense line that the rebels managed to scrounge up. They didn't have to wait long before the inquisitor popped up, jumping straight into their line and started cutting them up.

Some rebels broke ranks and tried to run away but the rest of the Imperial strike force gunned them down before they could. After all of the rebels present were dead the inquisitor turned to the rest of the troops

"Search every container! Some of them are still alive! I can feel it!" She ordered angrily prompting Aaron and the rest of the troops to hastily start searching for survivors

"She's angrier than usual..." Aaron muttered to himself as he checked the first container, finding nothing in it. The process was repeated for several times before finally finding something, in the form of several rebels hiding inside. He unloaded a whole battery pack into them before resuming his search _There's gotta be a jedi around here... She did say she felt something in the force..._ He thought to himself as he went about his job.

As he turned a corner and was about to open a container he stopped. Turning around he looked at a container down the corridor _I swear I heard something muffled coming from there..._ He thought to himself as he creeped closer trying to make as little sound as possible.

Nearing the container he listened in closely, managing to hear faint noises from within. Smiling underneath his helmet he took one of the imperial thermal detonators he was issued and made ready to throw it in. To his surprise and shock the moment he opened the door he was flung backwards slamming into the container opposite, all of the air leaving his lungs as he fell on his stomach. As he tried to get to his feet he turned to look up, seeing a green looking xeno with two short antennas and two bulging blue eyes wielding a green lightsaber. _What was that xenos races name? Rodian was it? _Aaron thought to himself as he climbed to his feet

"who... What are you?" the xeno spoke in a rather high-pitched accented style of low gothic "I can't sense you in the force." It was then that Aaron realised the xeno was actually female from the slim curves of her body

"You're not the first one to ask me that, and it starts to piss me off." Aaron replied with an annoyed tone "So, you're a jedi huh? Gotta say, I expected more."

The xeno made into a rather shacky combat pose "I'm not afraid to fight you!" she stammered

"Whatever you say xeno traitor." Aaron replied picking up his lasgun

"I am no traitor!" The xeno replied angrily "The jedi never betrayed the Republic! It was people like you that backstabbed us!" she continued before lunging at Aaron

"Wait what?" Aaron confusedly replied but had to duck roll out of the way as the jedi attacked him "What do you mean you're no traitor? You tried to assassinate the Chancellor." Aaron said from where he landed

"He was a sith lord! He was evil!" she replied before slashing at him again

His training and the last duel with the Second Sister taught him valuable information about how to fight a lightsaber user. Jumping out of the way he brought his lasgun up and fired, yet to his expectation the xeno deflected all of his shots "What do you mean he was evil? Whats the difference between jedi and sith?" He asked feeling genuinely confused

"They're evil! They use the power of the dark side!" She replied from where she stood

"Whats the dark side?" he asked

"Are you stupid or something?! Its in the name!" she exclaimed

Aaron remained silent for a second. _Is she trying to manipulate me? But theres a weird feel about her, even if shes a xeno... something calming. Gotta learn more about both the jedi and sith later, now I have my duty to uphold._ He thought to himself before raising his lasgun and sending a volley of lasfire at her. She dodged them to the side before jumping towards him prompting him to duck roll again. He was about to fire again when another voice joined in from somewhere above

"I see you've made a new friend Aaron. Care to introduce me?" The Second Sister said from atop a container

"I saved the jedi for you inquisitor, just like you wanted." Aaron replied annoyed from where he stood

"Good my servant." She replied jumping next to him and igniting her lightsaber "I've waited all day to deal with you pest!" She sneered at the xeno

Fear was visible on the xeno's face as she shakily stood her ground. The inquisitor launched herself at the xeno sword held high to decapitate the jedi. The jedi managed to block and slash back, only to be blocked herself. The two then proceeded to swing and slash at one another, forming a weird mesmerizing dance of light that Aaron found captivating. On one hand you had the jedi, slow and sloopy throwing powerful swings and slashes while on the other was the inquisitor with her cold and calculated moves, literally toying with the jedi as she definitely had full control over the duel.

After a little while the inquisitor must've gotten bored as she sent a powerful kick to the jedi's side, making the xeno stumble a little giving the inquisitor enough time to slash down. Unfortunately the xeno reacted in time blocking the blow but was not fast enough as she was flung into a container by the inquisitor. _Get some of your own medicine xeno... _Aaron thought to himself darkly as he watched from the sidelines.

The jedi slammed into the container with enough force that it made a small dent into it. She cried in pain as she fell to her knees. She immediately tried to rise to her feet but the inquisitor beat her to it, slamming her lightsaber into the xeno's stomach. The jedi cried out in pain as the lightsaber started to move upwards before going limp.

The inquisitor remained silent looking at the corpse before her. After a few minutes of pure silence she turned to Aaron "I've heard of your conversation with her and I'm pleased that you upheld your duty to the Empire." she said before turning back to the xeno

"Right... Now what?" He asked looking around

"Now what? Clean up of course." She replied as she started to move towards the exit "Come find me on the Avalon when you're done, we have things to discuss." and with that she disappeared around the corner.

Looking back at the xeno Aaron saw the terrified expression she wore when she died. "Ugly as grox shit..." Aaron muttered to himself as he came close. He saw that the jedi's lightsaber was no longer present_ The inquisitor must've taken it..._ Seeing that there was nothing more to do he made towards the exit.

Along the way he saw many stormtroopers moving about the place, doing whatever they were doing. As he climbed up back in the main bunker he saw the inquisitor in a room looking over a data pad

"Where may I begin?" he asked looking around

"Where the sergeant directs you, now get out of here." She replied not looking from the data pad

Aaron nodded and made his way out and started looking for sergeant Holt, finding him with Red and another soldier. He was apparently listening as Red droned on about how awesome this operation was.

"-and then I shot him in the stomach... Man you should've seen his face!" Red exclaimed ecstatically "Man ever since that inquisitor and Krask joined our Star Destroyer life has been getting interesting!" He continued on

"I'd prefer simple guard duty over this any day..." The random soldier said

"Are you nuts?! This is totally why I enlisted! This is what it means to be a stormtrooper! Kick ass!" Red exclaimed happily

"I'm with the trooper on this one." Aaron said as he reached them "Holt, where can I help with clean up?" he asked the sergeant

"We'll start moving the bodies first before cleaning inside. From what I found and heard there's lots of equipment in there, the rebs must've cared a lot if they had so many troops and equipment here." He replied looking back

"Very well, I'll get started."

And so Aaron and the rest of the troops started moving the bodies of the rebels to a pile outside before setting them on fire. Aaron thanked the Emperor for his rebreather as he and another trooper threw a body of a rebel into the fire. After throwing every corpse in the fire they moved in and scoured the bunker in search for equipment, finding tons of it. The whole operation lasted about two hours and by the end of it Aaron was totally bored as he loaded another crate of weapons on a platform to be taken back to the Star Destroyer. He then went to Red and Holt who were staying at the bunker's entrance.

"That was the last one." Aaron said as he neared them

"Good, and ahead of schedule too." Holt replied looking over a data pad

"Hey Krask, I heard you fought the jedi. Is that true?" Red asked

"More like kept the jedi busy 'till the inquisitor arrived." He replied looking around

He then remembered something. Picking through his pouches he searched for the death sticks he found earlier, finding them in his back pouch "Hey guys, do you know how to smoke these?" he asked the two

"Death sticks? It ain't that hard man, at the base of one stick there's a small wall that you break so that the chemicals in between make contact and start boiling. Then you take a drag." Red elaborated

Aaron was about to test one when the pack of death sticks he held flew in the grasp of the inquisitor. She then threw it on the ground and crushed it under her boot.

"Hey what gives?!" Aaron asked rather angry _I really wanna see how it feels..._

She didn't reply, instead she simply started to walk off towards her TIE Interceptor, leaving them behind

"What's her problem?" Aaron asked when the inquisitor was no longer in sight

"She hates drugs, like really hates them. Did the same to me once, although that time she threatened that she would kill me if she saw me smoke again. Reason why I stopped smoking." Holt replied

"I really wanted to know how it feels..." Aaron muttered

"Ain't much man, just some high." Holt continued

"No, like I wanted to see how they compare to lho sticks of the Imperium."

Both men's interest peaked after hearing the word Imperium

"You gotta tell us more stories about your home Krask, the ones you told us are really cool, even if they are very far fetched. I mean, Green skin monsters that live only to fight, aliens so unpredictable that one second they are your allies and the next your sworn enemy? Whats next? Terminator droids with the intent to raze all life in the galaxy?" Red said in a happy tone

"Those would be the necrons, but yes we do have them too." Aaron replied with a rather smug grin _Can't believe I'm bragging about the Imperium's enemies..._ he mentally berated himself as he looked at the two

"You must be shitting me... aren't you?" Red tried to deny the fact that Aaron's galaxy was a literal hellhole but couldn't "Man your galaxy sucks..." he muttered to himself

"It might suck but its home... And I miss it..." Aaron said sadly

"Gotta say you've adapted rather well to our galaxy Krask. Only one month in and already fitting in with the Empire, a true shame they don't pay you..." Holt said putting a hand on Aaron's shoulder plate

"The Imperium functions similar with your Empire, albeit with some differences. Both Empires are advocating for human superiority but in the Imperium we exterminate every alien we come across."

"But why? What did they do to deserve that treatment?" Red asked

"Lets put it this way, we didn't have the luck to have peaceful aliens around our borders... what we got are primitive beasts that don't stop at nothing to kill, arrogant fools that would sacrifice entire worlds of humans to save only a couple of theirs, filthy monstrosities that invade the bloody galaxy with the intent to eat everything and many others..."

"I pity your people..." Holt said with a sad voice

"The Imperium never cried when it was assailed, instead we struck forth with a fury that shook the ground beneath us."

They were about to continue their conversation when the sergeant was contacted, informing him that they were needed to leave the planet.

"Well, time to get off this dump." Holt said starting to move towards their shuttle prompting the others to move after him.

The trip back was uneventful, with the trio discussing various topics about the Imperium and how life sucked in Aaron's galaxy. Their conversation peaked the interest of all the soldiers in the shuttle and all of them agreed that tonight in the mess hall Aaron would tell a story from his service in the Imperium. But until then he had other business to attend to._ Visit the medic, recharge my packs, clean my armor, eat something and speak with the inquisitor. _Aaron went over the things he needed to do as he exited the shuttle. It had been an hour before he accomplished the first four and now all he needed was to talk with the inquisitor about his so called 'employment'.

He couldn't find her on the bridge but the Admiral was nice enough to tell him that she was in her personal training room. Problem was, even after one month he didn't know where it was so after about half an hour of wandering around like an idiot and asking the crew for instructions he finally managed to find it. Inside he found her fighting a bunch of training droids. It was the first time he saw her not wearing her full uniform as she wore her pants and boots with a simple white t-shirt on top. What stood out to him were her hands, heavily scarred with both hands being mechanical from elbow below.

He waited for her to finish and after fifteen minutes she won against the machines

"Override code 'Sister'" she spoke and the machines deactivated. She then turned and moved towards Aaron stopping in front of him

"You said we needed to talk about something?" Aaron asked

"Yes, although you'll have to wait a little until I get dressed." she replied turning and moving towards a locker at the far wall "Leave the room please."

Aaron nodded and exited in the corridor. After a couple of minutes she came out wearing her full uniform

"Follow me." she ordered moving towards Aaron's room _What's this fragging shit about... _He thought to himself as he followed

Once they were inside she turned to look at him "What I am about to say doesn't leave this room, is that understood?" she spoke in a very serious tone

"Crystal clear."

"Good, now listen close. Two days ago I have been contacted and ordered back to the Inquisitorius Headquarters, I would be away for a week or two so I wanted to give you some time off but something popped up. The Grand Inquisitor asked for your presence on Lothal. Apparently there's a rebel cell that operates there that has active jedi and he wants able personal to help him. I have no idea how he manages to fail against them but I don't care. I want you to go there and act as my eyes and ears, use your camera whenever you can and gather information about the group."

"The Grand Inquisitor? The xeno?!" Aaron replied angrily

"I know you don't like aliens but bear with me, his lifespan has drastically shortened because of his failures. I believe that a couple more lapses and his head will roll." she said with a rather sadistic glee

"I gather you don't like him."

"Of course not, hes too eccentric and talks about his accomplishments too much..."

_Says the woman that wears a cape everyday..._ Aaron thought to himself as he listened to her droning on how the Grand Inquisitor was a fool

"Do I have a say in this?" Aaron asked feeling anger build up more and more

"Of course you do, you can go willingly or forcefully. The choice is yours." she replied with a bored tone

"Fragging... alright..." he could feel his anger boil. He was thankful she couldn't sense him through her force thing as she would feel how much he wanted to slit her throat "But for what purpose though? Why do you wish to know about those rebels? What do you wish to achieve?" he asked

She remained silent for a few seconds before replying "Redemption in the eyes of the Empire." after that she turned and made her way to the door, stopping in front of it "You leave in an hour." with that she left leaving Aaron to silently curse her for sending him to a filthy xeno

"I pray to the Emperor I don't end up sliting his throat in his sleep. And what was about redemption? The frak is with that woman... whatever..." Anger dissipating he went and started to collect his stuff, taking mostly essentials and stuffing them into a backpack.

After he collected his things he left and started walking towards the hangar. Weirdly enough, all the crew he came across were giving him dirty looks the like someone gets after having some fun. Along the way he managed to stumble across Red who was also giving him that look

"Hey Krask, getting lucky?" he said in a cocky voice

"I don't understand... what is going on?" Aaron replied feeling genuinely confused

"Come on man, we know you and the inquisitor did some stuff. You went to her training room and stayed there for like twenty minutes before the two of you went to your room. This type of news spread like widfire." He replied in a happy tone. Aaron could feel that underneath his helmet Red was having the biggest smile ever

"Get that stupid idea out of your head, we didn't do shit. She booted me off to lothal system while she goes to her headquarters for business."

"Wait what?" Aaron could feel the confusion radiating from Red "But the engineers said that they heard moans coming from the training room..."

"Those were her fighting a bunch of training droids... you people are sick..."

"Hey, people get bored on board this kind of ships. We gotta pass the time somehow." Red tried to defend their stupid rumors and plottings but failed as Aaron didn't buy it

"Whatever, I gotta go to the hangar now. See you in a month maybe."

"Maybe?" Red asked

"There are jedi operating on Lothal. Theres a high chance I wont come back." Aaron replied

"Think positively man... I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Whatever you say." Aaron said as he started moving down the corridor towards the hangar

"Kick some rebel ass for old Red will ya!" Red exclaimed from somewhere behind

When he reached the hangar there lay a Lambda class shuttle waiting for him. The ship was actually appealing to him with the trihedral foil styled wings and smooth surface. It was a stark contrast to the TIE fighters and even some ships from back home such as the Valkyrie. This and the Star Destroyers were the only ships he liked from this galaxy. He knew there were more designs he was yet to see in the Empire but these stood out as elegant.

The pilot greeted him at the bottom of the ramp and made to prepare the ship. Setting his pack on a chair and sitting in the next Aaron waited for his departure._ Lothal here I come... I hope it'll be worth working with a xeno... I think I'm forgetting something..._

"I forgot to tell Red and the others there won't be any story tonight... ops."

* * *

Author's note: Here we go boys

Another chapter boys. Gotta say Star Wars made a comeback with The Mandalorian and Fallen Order but I don't hold my hopes up for The rise of Skywalker.

I know I added the Second Sister mostly because of the hype for Fallen Order but hey, its fanfiction what will you do. Plus I have a rather nice plan for her in the future.

As for Aaron, well...

And we're entering Rebels timeline... Oh boy...

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**"Mission to Lothal"**

The trip to Lothal was everything Aaron wanted, silent as he waited in the shuttle. They recently exited the hyperspace into the Lothal system and were making their way towards the planet. The silence allowed Aaron to steel himself for what could be the most unpleasant experience he would face so far ever since coming to this galaxy. To work for the Empire was already something Aaron didn't like and sending him to work with a xeno inquisitor was already pushing him close to the edge.

_Holy Emperor, please let this world be human dominant..._ He silently prayed as he waited for them to reach the planet. In all of his boredom he scratched his serial number in the space between the chairs where some other troopers had done the same. _Glad to see that soldiers never change. _He thought smiling underneath his helmet. Climbing to his feet he went in the cockpit where the pilot was flying. From Aaron's perspective the world he was about to land was either a Garden world or a Agri world, one or the other.

"How much longer until we land?" Aaron asked the pilot

"We'll reach the capital in less than twenty minutes." The pilot replied

"Alright... Don't mind me asking but what can you tell me about this world?"

The pilot remained silent for a second before replying "Not much sir, only that it doesn't really produce much other than food."

_So its an agri world then. _Aaron thought nodding to himself "Alright thanks for the information." he turned and went back to his chair. A little while after that he felt a slight shudder which meant they breached the planets surface and before he knew it they had already landed _That was quick._ he thought to himself rising up, taking his pack and making his way to the exit ramp _Emperor protect my sanity with that xeno... _He prayed one last time before pressing the button for the ramp to lower.

He descended into a large hangar housing many TIE fighters and to his expectations and surprise there was only one person waiting for him, a man in basic Imperial armor with blond hair and an intricate beard. He saluted the moment Aaron touched the floor prompting him to return the gesture.

"Welcome to Lothal, agent Krask." the man said taking a more formal stance "I hope there won't be a problem about the lack of welcoming committee but I hope you understand."

Aaron held a hand up to silence the man "There won't be a problem, I'm not a man for excentric tastes as it is agent uhh..." he paused not knowing the man's name

"Kallus, Alexsandr Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau." Kallus replied immediately

Aaron nodded before looking around "I have to ask though, where is the inquisitor? Did he get lost on the way or something?" the last part coming out as mocking made kallus's face change a little before returning to neutral

"The Grand Inquisitor is in a rather important meeting right now back at the Inquisitorius headquarter and would not be available for a couple of days." Kallus replied sternly

_Did all inquisitors get recalled back to their headquarter or is it only the ones I meet..._ Aaron thought to himself before shrugging and replying "Whatever, as little time I spend with him is for the best."

"But I must ask why. I'm afraid I had little time to read your file Krask so could you enlighten me please?" Kallus asked feeling interested

"From where I come from aliens are not tolerated. It's hard enough as it is to simply ignore them but to work under them?" Aaron said shaking his head "I'd rather take orders from an Ogryn than a xenos filth..."

Kallus's face turned to one of surprise "Isn't that a little too extreme? I mean yes the Grand Inquisitor has a rather intimidating presence but surely you could give him some respect for his rank and position in the Empire."

"Respect has to be earned. And from all the Second Sisters tirades of him I can't say for sure I really respect him as it is."

"Ah yes, the Second Sister. I'm surprised you ended up working with her, she has a rather bad reputation with the Empire concerning her usage of Imperial resources." Agent Kallus said turning and motioning Aaron to follow him.

Nodding Aaron followed and replied "Yea I know what you mean although I must object at the usage of Imperial resources. In only a month of working for your Empire I participated in three different campaigns against rebels alongside her. The last being the biggest with over fifty rebels killed alongside a jedi."

"Yes, I did read about the operations on Hilion and Reyama although I haven't heard anything recent regarding a jedi." Kallus replied as they rounded a corner.

"Figured you hadn't heard of it this fast, it happened yesterday. Unfortunately I didn't bother to learn the planet's name." Aaron said looking around. He had to admit, the gray themes of the Empire had some sort of appeal to him. The immaculate interiors and smooth surfaces screamed order and discipline, even if it was most likely maintained by machines instead of humans.

"Names are not important, what's important is that the rebels are stopped." Kallus said as they reached an elevator. They went up Emperor knows how many levels before exiting in another corridor and continuing to move, most likely towards his office. Once they reached it they went inside and seated themselves across one another.

Aaron silently activated his camera and spoke up "So, what can you tell me about the rebel cell on this planet. From what I learned they gave you a run for your crowns."

"They're a small group, the Spectres as they call themselves. They have been operating on this planet for more than a year by now." Kallus replied

"And whats your take on them?"

"I personally came into contact with them on Kessel when they broke into a mining facility and set some Wookiee prisoners free, it was at same time that they revealed that they had a jedi." Kallus explained

"A single jedi? From what I heard there are two." Aaron replied

"At the time yes, there was only a jedi. After that he seems to have taken an apprentice under his wing."

Aaron nodded "I see, and what can you tell me about them in particular, each and everyone of them?" he asked

"Even after fighting them for a year we don't know much. They have an affinity to operate without causing many casualties which surprises me. So far we know that there are three humans, a Lasat surprisingly and a droid. The jedi are both human and the other is a mandalorian girl. The Lasat owns an important weapon of their people, one that was issued only to their honour guard, I believe that he was one once upon a time."

"Once upon a time?" Aaron asked

"The Lasat species has been exterminated, with a few remaining." Kallus elaborated

A smile formed underneath Aaron's helmet "Good... and what about the droid and this so called mandalorian?" Aaron asked

"The droid participated in some operations, mostly infiltrating our bases undercover with imperial painjobs. As for the mandalorian, she's been known to be their explosives expert, sabotaging our operations multiple times before vanishing without a trace."

"I see, and when was the last time you fought them?"

"Two weeks ago, during the Empire's day. To our shame they managed to escape with a Rodian fugitive who worked at the Imperial Imformation Office. He had implants which granted him vital knowledge about the Empire." Kallus replied in a slightly ashamed tone

"It is not my duty to judge your failures agent, but how could you let the rebels escape with vital information regarding your Empire?"

"After they managed to smuggle the fugitive off world they lured us away from their main ship utilizing our tracking devise against us. By the time we realised that we were led astray it was too late."

"I see... Do you have any images of these rebels?"

Kallus nodded and pressed some buttons and a hologram image appeared "This is the best picture we have of them so far." he replied

Aaron studied the image in detail, making sure his camera got most of it. The image only presented the three humans and the lasat xeno. The tallest man wore simple civilian clothing sporting a pistol holster on his belt and armor on his right arm and what looked like a ponytail at the back of his head. _This should be the jedi... and the other kid must be his apprentice_ Aaron thought to himself looking at the other kid. Surprisingly the kid had blue hair and blue eyes, their intensity made it look like they were glowing somehow and Aaron made a parallel with how both jedi had blue eyes yet the inquisitor had yellow glowing ones _Could this be what distinguishes them? _Aaron thought to himself before mentally berating himself _That's just stupid... their eye colours don't have anything to do with being jedi or sith... or could they?_

The door to the office opened and another person entered. Aaron had not bothered to turn to look at the person, instead he continued to study the image, musing how ugly the paintjob on the armor of the girl looked and feeling disgust at the xeno.

"Agent Kallus, why haven't I been notified that another agent of the Empire would arrive? I would have taken precautions in meeting him more properly." A feminine voice spoke from behind

Kallus was about to reply but Aaron beat him to it "I can assure you miss that it won't be a problem, I'm not a man for excentric entrances but I appreciate the thought." Rising to his feet he turned to look at the newcomer. She looked like she was in her mid thirties wearing a blue uniform with shoulder pads and blond hair falling out of her helmet which somehow reminded Aaron of the Eldar style cone helmets

Her face was kinda surprised with a mix of fear into it, most likely because his helmet wasn't the friendlies of things

"There's no need to be afraid of me ma'am." Aaron reassured her which thankfully calmed her

"I'm so sorry for my little outburst" she said chuckling "Its just that I'm not used to seeing such grim attires everyday. Say uhh what's with the skulls on your uniform?" she asked with a small smile

"The Imperialis is a sign of honour in the Imperium, it shows that the soldiers of the Imperium are ready to give their lives in the name of the Emperor at any given moment." Aaron replied

"Wait, you're that man that came from a different galaxy, are you not?" she asked

"Yes..." Aaron replied nodding and feeling his annoyance grow

"Ohh where are my manners. I am minister Maketh Tua, overseer of this planet until Governor Pryce returns." she said in polite tone

"I am Krask, is there anything more you wish to discuss or can we return to learning about these rebels?" he asked preparing himself to sit down again

"Yes there is something I must say to Agent Kallus." she replied

Nodding he sat down and returned to examining the image "And what would that be minister?" Kallus asked from where he was seated, surprisingly he remained silent during their conversation.

"I have been informed that Senator Gall Trayvis will reach our capital by tomorrow morning." She informed the agent. This also piqued Aaron's interest

"Is he some high priority target the rebels are trying to eliminate?" Aaron asked looking back at the minister

She shook her head before replying "No no, he's been playing for years now the 'Senator in exile' facade to lure rebels out for the Empire to stop. He's authorised to use the Holonet to give 'inspirational' speeches for rebels and then to lure them into traps."

"Ah I see, and you want to use this person to lure this cell out into broad daylight, am I right?" Aaron asked looking at Kallus

"Precisely. The plan is simple, the Senator will use the old Republic Senate Building here in the capital and give out his speech to lure the cell out sometime in the day, our forces will be waiting in hiding spots and when the signal is given by the Senator we'll move in and apprehend the rebels." Kallus explained

"Apprehend them?" Aaron asked "It would be easier if we just kill them." he continued

"Oh don't get me wrong, if they resist we'll put them down but it would be much better if we were to capture them. It would give us more insights into who Fulcrum is." Kallus replied

"Fulcrum? Who's that?"

"Nobody knows, supposedly its a rebel informant that contacts various rebel cells across the galaxy."

Aaron nodded and closed his camera "Alright, I believe this meeting is over. I'd like to get a feeling of this place before tomorrow if it won't be a problem."

"It won't, I'll have an escort show you around" Kallus said before turning to the Minister "Minister Tua, I'd like to discuss some things with you so please remain." they continued to talk business while Aaron rose to his feet and went to wait in the corridor.

A trooper came by shortly and off they went. And by the Emperor was the tour boring as all hell... Going over most of the floors of the capital building was some of the most tedious thing he could've done in his whole life... Floor after floor with rooms filled with bureaucratic shit and civilian data on screens. Aaron hoped that when they went into the city things would get better... his hopes were crushed alongside with his prayer for a human dominant world when he saw just how many xenos populated the planet. At least two thirds were aliens _I already wanna go back to the Avalon..._ he thought to himself as he and his escort passed through a market area. Each stand was filled with alien fruits and some stands had meat but most of the vendors were aliens, and Aaron didn't really had any money, only a couple credits he managed to scrounge up on his time here._ Would be good if they would start paying me... Would help me understand how their economic system works._ He paused looking at a stand with a human vendor, seeing an assortment of fruits he saw one that he liked, a dark purple fruit with white stripes and red greaves.

"Excuse me vendor, but how much for one of those?" Aaron asked pointing at the fruit in question

"The jogan?" the vendor replied "Three credits each, thirty a kilogram."

Aaron started digging through his pockets searching for his bag of credits. Finding them he inspected how many he had. _F__ifty seven credits... damn I'm poor. _he thought to himself taking six credits "I'd like two please" he said giving the vendor the credits

The vendor picked two and placed them in a bag and handed them to Aaron "He's ripping you off..." the trooper said coming next to him "You could just take the fruits you know. No ones stopping you." he continued

"To use ones position of power for stealing from those who can't defend themselves can only lead to corruption." Aaron replied

"Don't start with that jedi wisdom shit you hear?" the trooper said taking one of the fruits for himself before turning and leaving "Come on, we still have a couple of sectors to visit."

Sighing Aaron payed for the fruit the trooper stole and then went after the soldier. The rest of the trip was just as boring but at least he had some tasty fruits to keep him going. After they returned to the capital building Aaron went back to Kallus's office, finding him working on a datapad.

"How do you find this planet, agent Krask?" he asked not looking from his datapad

"Not what I wanted but acceptable, and please stop calling me 'agent'. I'm a soldier not some special operator." Aaron replied

"I see, is there something you wanted?"

Aaron remained silent for a second before silently activating his camera "I'd like to learn of these jedi if you don't mind."

"That won't be a problem, although I don't know much about them myself." Kallus replied

"Whatever you can tell me will suffice."

Kallus turned his head from his datapad to look at Aaron "Well, I learned from the Grand inquisitor that the adult jedi is named Kanan Jarrus. From what he told me he used to be the apprentice of a jedi master named Depa Billaba from his fighting style which is highly defensive. His apprentice is a different case as we don't really know much about him. He managed to infiltrate the Imperial academy under the name of 'Dev Morgan' although I don't believe that's his real name."

Aaron nodded "Nobody's that stupid to use his real name to infiltrate their enemies. Thank you agent Kallus, your insight will greatly help me when we deal with those pests."

He made to leave but stopped when Kallus spoke up again "The minister would like to talk with you, she showed interest in your Imperium and would like to ask you some questions."

"Very well, where can I find her?" Aaron replied

"On level twenty seven, room one hundred and seven."

Aaron nodded and left for the ministers office and after one short trip later he reached her door. Its machine spirit most likely detected him as it slid up without a hitch and he stepped in.

"Welcome agent Krask, please have a seat." she said from her desk motioning to a chair at the side of the room

"Stop calling me agent please, as I said before I'm a soldier not an agent." Aaron replied

"Very well and thank you for joining me, I like to ask you some questions about your Imperium and how it would compare to our Empire."

"I'm no statesman but I'll answer to the best of my abilities." Aaron replied nodding

"Very well, first off what can you tell me about your government, how does it function?" she asked

"Why would you want to know that?" Aaron asked warily

"To see how it compares to the Imperial Senate."

Aaron nodded before replying "I see, well... The head of the Imperium is the God Emperor of mankind of course but after his entombment on the Golden Throne the Imperium is led by the High lords of Terra until the Emperor returns." he explained

"And these High lords govern in his stead? And what do you mean until he returns? If he was entombed on your so called Golden Throne wouldn't he be dead?" she asked looking confused

Sighing in annoyance Aaron replied "The Emperor isn't dead, the Golden throne functions as a life support and keeps him alive while he powers the Astronomicon."

"And whats this so called Astronomicon?" she asked

"I have no idea, something to do with faster than light travel from what I heard."

"Aha, back to the topic, these High lords control everything in the Imperium?"

"No, they do control most operations such as collecting taxes, setting trade routes and moving military units but they don't control everything. The Ecclesiarchy, the church holds a large amount of power in the Imperium as it is, being able to launch crusades from time to time and having their own military branch, the Sisters of battle."

"You people are religious?" the minister asked surprised

"Yes, I did say the God Emperor of Man."

she nodded "I would ask for more but I'm not interested in religion. So if the church and the High lords hold vast amounts of power how does that pan out for the average Imperial citizen?"

Aaron barked a laugh "Tell me minister, is this world an Agri world?" she nodded "Well, in the Imperium this would be classified as a Civilised world, even with all the xenos on it."

Her face changed to one of confusion "What do you mean by Civilised world? What are the living standards in you Imperium?"

"Lower than yours, most planets in the Imperium are classified as hive world, forge worlds and agri worlds. The living standard varies greatly from planet to planet. You could have a highly developed planet with Grav based technology and another right next that had not invented even the most basic of engines." Aaron explained

"Forgive me for saying this but why would you people let this kind of thing happen? Why let worlds go back to the stone age? Isn't the duty of the High lords to command your planets?"

"They don't command planets, I did say they had a lot of power in the Imperium but they can't control whole planets. That responsability falls to the local government and the planetary governor." Aaron explained surprisingly calm

"But my question still stands, why let such thing happen?"

"To introduce new technologies to such backwater worlds is costly and inefficient, just like that ancient saying goes 'You can take the monkey out of the jungle but you can't take the jungle out of the monkey'."

"I don't know what a monkey is but I see your point. I'm afraid I'm losing my respect for your Imperium by the second..." she replied sadly

"Never said that life was perfect in the Imperium but it is what it is."

"How large is it? Your Imperium I mean?" she asked with a newfound interest

"The Imperium spans over a million worlds."

Her face dropped "A million?! Just how big is it?!"

"It spans over a million worlds separated into five sectors or segmentums as we call them." Aaron replied

The minister nodded before replying "Are they like our rims?"

"No, the planets are separated into five segmentums, Solar, Obscurus, Ultima, Tempestus and Pacificus. Respectively center, north, east, south and west."

"You have a sector named Pacificus? Is it named like that because its the safest to live in?" she asked

"No, its named like that because its the least explored."

A smile formed on her lips "Kinda like our galaxy." she said

"Explain please, I'm not an expert in this galaxy's maps."

"The western fringe of our galaxy hasn't been really explored, much like your own." she explained "Speaking of safe... I did read that your galaxy is a dangerous one, just what kind of threats does your Imperium face?"

"Besides the Eye of Terror in the heart of the galaxy we have a plethora of xenos races that want to see mankind extinguished... Reasons why we're so xenophobic..." He replied muttering the last part to himself

"The Eye of Terror? What is that?" she asked

"Well..." Aaron started before stopping and sighing "Its a crack in the reality at the heart of the galaxy, I'm not saying more than that." he said sternly

"A crack in reality? It wouldn't be purple in colour would it?" she asked

Aaron remained silent for a second before replying "What did you just say?" he asked slowly

"That your so called Eye of Terror is purple, or rather a combination of red, white and purple." she replied

"How did you know?" he asked lowly

She held a hand up to calm him "There's no need to be angry about this, as for how I know what colour it is, well, back when I was a student at the Academy we studied the galaxy and its star systems, it fascinated me and in time I became fascinated by anomalies that surround us. Imagine me surprised when your so called Eye of Terror is an anomaly from the closest galaxy to our own. Its the biggest mystery to scientific institutions across the known galaxy!" she replied turning excited towards the end "Tell me, how did it come to be?" she asked

Aaron shrugged "Honestly I have no idea."

"A shame... Ohh I think there are some images on the extranet." she said turning on her holographic computer and searching for images. Aaron still had no idea how these technologies worked. Cogitators back in the Imperium always had a monitor and were always so bulky in comparison to these ones. After a minute of searching the minister found what she wanted

"Ahh, here it is." she said with a smile and motioning Aaron to see

True to her word, the image he was looking at was essentially the image of his galaxy, albeit in a small size rather then how big it was. The Eye of Terror looked like a cancerous tumor in the heart of the galaxy and the Maelstrom was but a small dot in comparison.

"Holy Emperor on the Golden Throne... It really is it!" he exclaimed happily "I can't believe it! Thank you minister!"

"You're welcome." she replied genuinely feeling good about showing Aaron his home galaxy.

"You have no idea how good I feel right now! To know that the Imperium still exists is some of the best news I got in a long time." he said smiling underneath his helmet

"As I said, you're welcome and thank you for answering my questions. I must return to my duties but if you'd wish we could talk about your Imperium another time." she said taking a datapad in her hand

Aaron nodded and made to leave "Another time, might as well retire for the night, haven't slept in almost two days now..." he said as he reached the door

"My goodness get some sleep young man!" the minister replied in a motherly tone prompting Aaron to bark out a laugh

"If you knew my age you'd think twice before calling me young." he replied looking back

"Then how old are you if I may ask?

"Seventy one years old, turning seventy two in three months." her face drooped and before she could reply he left. As he searched for his room he realised something, that he didn't know where it was and only after embarrassingly asking agent Kallus where it was did he find it. Entering and unclasping his armor he dropped on his bed and went into deep thoughts.

_First day on Lothal. Not bad... even considering all the xenos population on the planet. No sign of the xeno inquisitor which is good, the leadership of this planet is competent, even if its a temporary replacement to the planetary governor. The garrison is extremely incompetent and corrupted, saw a group of stormtroopers 'confiscate' a couple of crates of food from some xeno vendors... I should feel good at their loss but stealing from them is just a new low for these people... I should get some sleep... Tomorrow we deal with the rebels... Might as well put them down myself and screw what the Second Sister told me... Yea, might as well do that, what will she do? fire me? I might as well make an appeal and transfer to their Security Bureau... whatever, I need some rest._

* * *

The second day on Lothal started quite nicely for Aaron. For the first time in a month of serving the Empire he didn't have to wake up early because the inquisitor wanted something done. He did get a report that the troops in sector eight failed to stop a contraband dealer that was trying to rob a cadet... _such lowlifes on this planet I swear to the Emperor... _The morning and evening went by without a hitch with him going over the plan one more time with agent Kallus and now they were waiting in their hiding spots in the old senate building. When the Senator gave them the signal they would go in and apprehend the rebels, or just execute them as Aaron hoped.

"What's taking him so long?" the minister demanded in a hushed tone

"He'll give the signal when the rebels arrive." Kallus reassured her

A couple of minutes later his wrist comm started beeping signaling that the rebels had arrived "All units move in." he ordered in his comm before moving out

Aaron and the rest of their troops followed close behind them and entered. A trooper opened fire and destroyed the Senator's droids before they could react. They immediately took positions around the rebels _No way they're getting through this... Wait, where's the lasat and mando girl? And what's a twi'lek xeno doing here?_ he thought to himself as he took position on kallus's right

The jedi immediately took out their lightsabers and took defensive stances with the xeno taking out a small pistol.

"Kanan Jarrus, Jedi knight, Padawan Jabba and what have we here? A twi'lek I've yet to meet. From your regalia I suspect you must be our talented pilot." Kallus said as he slowly advanced towards the group

"Where is the lasat and the mandalorian girl?!" the minister demanded from their backs

"If you don't talk then my troopers will become a firing squad." He warned the rebels

A smile formed underneath Aaron's face_ I like your style Kallus_

"You better do as he says." The Senator implored the rebels

The kid turned to look at the Senator "Don't worry Senator, our friends will be along." he reassured him

"There is no escape. Surrender or die rebel scum." Aaron sneered at them. As he expected they turned to look at him

"Who is that guy?" the kid asked

"I don't know... But I don't like the looks of his armor." Kanan replied

Aaron turned to look at Kallus who gave him and the rest of the troops the signal to slowly move in. He slowly started making his way towards the rebels, making sure that cover was always available if needed. And then grenades fell from the ceiling

"Grenades!" He shouted jumping into cover

He expected explosions but instead they were smoke grenades, filling the room in smoke and obscuring his vision. The shootout started with both sides opening fire on one another. He saw a stormtrooper get hit in the chest and fell down while another got hit in the head. He didn't know where the shots were coming from and resorted to firing single shots every few seconds.

He finally saw the purple xeno as he used a electric staff to hit a stormtrooper. He was about to shoot him but he disappeared into the smoke

"We gotta get Trayvis outta here!" Aaron heard Kanan shout from somewhere in the room

"The exit!" Aaron shouted into his comm before moving towards it only to come face to face with a grenade. His training kicking in he duck rolled out behind a desk as it exploded. He was stunned but relatively intact. He couldn't say the same about another trooper who lay there blood gushing out of many areas of his body

"Agent Kallus they must not escape!" the minister ordered from somewhere in the room, most likely cowering in cover

"They haven't minister... They won't." Kallus said as he climbed to his feet. He motioned for Aaron to come with him and alongside another trooper they went after the rebels, finding them before a sewage drain tunnel.

They opened fire on the rebels with the jedi managing to deflect most of their shots. They told their friends to go without them and stood their ground. Aaron was firing short bursts at the adult jedi but he managed to deflect his shots. He changed his target and sent two quick bursts at the kid. To his credit, despite the sloppy technique he managed to deflect all but one of the shots as it hit him in his left shoulder and destabilized him making him fall in the hole.

"Ezra!" Kanan shouted looking back for a second before turning with anger plastered on his face. He used his jedi sorcerous powers to throw the Imperials on the ground before jumping in the hole himself

Aaron saw that Kallus got up the fastest and made a mad dash for the hole, managing to get one shot in before it closed

"Get this open, I want troopers at every exit in the lower city." Kallus ordered and Aaron obeyed

"Attention all units, move in and secure all exits of the old sewage pipes. We have rebels in the perimeter." He spoke into his newly built in comm that the Empire installed into his helmet _Much nicer and better then the vox, the sound quality is just music to my ears_ he thought to himself before mentally slapping himself for loosing his focus. He along the other trooper started working on a console on the wall and before long the sewage gate opened.

By then some more troops had joined them and they dropped down in the hole

"Split up and find them, search patterns of two by two Go!" he ordered the men and off they went with Aaron and a random trooper going on their way. They didn't had much luck but a short while after they were contacted informing them that the rebels had been found. Quickly making their way towards them they came across them taking cover in a tunnel intersection, coming in from their side in a flanking move. The trooper opened fire on the lasat xeno which was the closest and to their ever horrendous reputation of being bad shots he managed to miss all of them prompting the xeno to launch himself at them, sending a powerful fist in the troopers head knocking him out and another towards Aaron's chest.

He dodged and parried another fist with his weapon. He had to admit, xeno as he was he knew how to fight... Definitely ex-soldier. He managed to send a kick in the xenos side making him grunt in pain before he did something Aaron had not expected. He grapped him and threw him across the tunnel right next to his rebel friends.

Aaron immediately tried to rise only to come face to face with the mandalorian girl who was pointing a blaster at his head. She fired and he felt pain course throughout his head. He fell screaming in pain before resorting to groaning in pain as he laid there on the ground

"Wow, his helmet actually stopped my blaster, what's that thing made of?" she asked the lasat

"I don't know, but he ain't gettin' up any time soon, come on." and off they went after their friends

Agent Kallus and the rest of his troops arrived immediately "You good Krask?" he asked looking down at the groaning man

Groaning in pain Aaron slowly climbed to his feet "I'm gonna feel that tomorrow." he grumbled to himself

"Come on, we still got the rebels to take care of." And off they went again, albeit Aaron moved much slower because of his pain. The most battle worthy rebels were staying behind to lay down suppressing fire while their friends moved away. _This isn't good... If they find that the Senator is working with us we'll have a much harder time to rescue him._ he thought to himself as he layed down suppressing fire at the mandalorian girl. She retaliated with a grenade making him and the rest to jump out of the way.

When they got to their feet and made to fire back the rebels were gone. "After them!" Kallus ordered and off they were again _This operation went to shit really fast..._ he thought to himself as he followed the main group. They ended up in a dead end which angered Kallus

"They must not escape! Same pattern, Go!" he ordered

Aaron and yet another trooper went on their way to search for the rebels. This time they had more luck as they arrived in a room with a giant fan in the middle of the room. The rebels were there and the Senator was lying on the ground, unconscious with a black eye but still very much alive.

"Found them, converge on my position." Aaron spoke on his comm before he and the trooper opened fire on the rebels. The kid was the only jedi deflecting shots and despite having been hit in his left shoulder he actually deflected even better. He also wore an angry expression on his face for some reason. The other jedi, Kanan was using his jedi powers to stop the bloody fan, allowing the other rebels to escape.

By now the other Imperial forces had reached and joined them firing onto the rebels. They had little success as they passed the fan on the other side. Weirdly enough the kid remained for a second to glare at the Senator before departing himself.

"Well shit..." Aaron muttered to himself as he jumped down alongside Kallus and moving to the Senator. His beat up sad face actually made Aaron smile as he looked at the poor man _Johann was right about something... I do like to see people get hurt..._ he mused to himself as he looked on

Kallus on the other hand looked furious, sparing the Senator a glance before furiously storming off.

"Could've been worse." Aaron said to one of the troopers. He was ignored as the troops followed Kallus leaving him and the Senator alone

Activating his camera he turned to look at the Senator "Senator Trayvis, tell me everything you learned about these rebels."

Seeing Aaron's grim attire the Senator's face turned from sad to scared as he took a step back. Aaron took a step forward "There's nothing to be afraid of Senator, you're among allies." That didn't seem to calm the man as he stared into the red eyes on his helmet.

"What do you want to know?" The Senator asked in a rather scared tone

"Anything you know, and please calm down. Its not like I'm not gonna chop you up and feed you to the grox." he reassured the man

The Senator finally started to compose himself taking several gulps of air before returning to normal "I'm sorry for my little outburst, its just that I'm not used to meeting bounty hunters is all." he said

"Bounty hunters?" Aaron asked

"Yes, wait... aren't you one? From all the weird armor and skull visage I gather you're one of them." the senator replied

"Nope, and please start talking about the rebels."

"Yes, but first lets get out of the sewage pipes." he said turning and moving away leaving Aaron alone

He remained silent for a couple of minutes looking at the place the rebels had escaped_ These rebels are even more organised than the last group... they help one another when in the thick of it... Just like the stormtroopers of the Imperium... No, they don't even compare... but their bond is similar, kill one and the rest will lash out... I will kill them all_

* * *

Author's note: These are not the rebels you are looking for

Another chapter, and I must apologize for not adding the Grand Inquisitor in this chapter but its more convenient that he was recalled back to their headquarters with the rest of the inquisitors hence why he didn't appear. Also because he didn't appear in the episode as it is. I promise he will make his debut in the next chapter.

I hope I got all of the information during the conversation between Aaron and minister Tua right, plus he found out his galaxy is out there! I always liked the idea between Star Wars/Warhammer crossovers that the galaxies are like in real life with the Star Wars setup being in the Andromeda galaxy.

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**"Unexpected Visitors"**

"Any ideas?" Kallus asked from where he was seated behind his desk

"None sir." Aaron replied

Kallus sighed and leaned back into his chair. Aaron could tell that the man was frustrated and he couldn't deny that he felt the same. It had been two days since their failed attempt at the old Senate building and they had not even managed to locate the whereabouts of the rebel group. It was as if the moment they lost them from sight in the old sewage pipes they simply vanished in the warp.

On a lighter note, they managed to get a clear profile of the rebels and with the reinstatement of senator Trayvis into the Imperial Senate they were declared wanted criminals across the planet. It would be a matter of time before they would be reported to the Imperial authorities but they did not hold their hopes up. The people of this planet were rather rebellious as it was. It was rather funny in Aaron's opinion, comparing the situation here with some instances from back in the Imperium. A planet would welcome the Imperium with open arms and then after some time and some drastic economic and social changes the people would turn rebellious. It was nothing new to Aaron, as he participated in several Imperial Compliance campaigns against rebelling worlds. Still, this world was a totally different case, as he found out yesterday, the Empire wanted to turn Lothal and the surrounding star systems into major manufacturing worlds, transitioning Agri worlds into Forge worlds and that didn't stand well with the populations as they disliked the idea of their planets resources being used like that.

"Perhaps we should take a break for now" Kallus spoke rising from his chair "the rebels won't go anywhere and I'm certain we both need a break."

"I don't share your sentiment but very well, Tomorrow morning?" Aaron replied making his way to the door

"Tomorrow morning."

And with that another day ended with no results. Aaron went back to his room and sat down on his bed and reviewed the footage he got from the battle at the senate building. While it wasn't a lot, the footage of the fight and what the senator told him gave him a clearer picture of the rebels. Small group, well equipped and self sufficient, they cared about one another and would jump at any chance to save any of their friends.

Sighing he went over the notes he made over each individual rebel. _The lasat xeno, heavy build and skilled in ranged and melee combat, definitely ex-soldier. That guy Kanan, a jedi rookie most likely, the inquisitor would have no problem dispatching him and the kid if it came down to it. The mando girl, not much information, skilled fighter and demolition expert, remember to take revenge on her for shooting me in the head. The Twi'lek xeno, same as the mando girl, skilled pilot from what I heard and mediocre fighter most likely as she wielded a dingy blaster pistol. The droid, no information at all, haven't seen that machine so far. The kid, Ezra Bridger from what the senator called him, pathetic combatant, and almost no skill with a lightsaber, could take him out myself if it were the case._ Still, all of this information was useless if they didn't know where the rebels were hiding.

He put his dataslate away and started stripping his armor, _A little early to sleep but I don't care, better get as much sleep as I can before going back on that dreaded star destroyed._ he thought to himself as he climbed into bed. He didn't get any sleep as the door slid open revealing a xeno with white skin and red face markings in grey and black armor.

"You're a hard man to find Krask." he said entering the room

Aaron scrambled to his feet and got into a combat stance "Who are you?!" he demanded

The xeno rolled his eyes before replying "If I wanted to fight you, you'd already be dead. As for who I am... Let's just say I asked for your presence here."

Aaron's eyes widened as realisation dawned on him "You're the grand inquisitor." he said dropping his stance. In Aaron's opinion, the xeno looked a lot less excentric than how the second sister made him out to be. He actually bothered to wear armor and to Aaron's surprise and amusement he didn't wear a cape.

"Indeed I am, and I've been looking forward to meeting you."

"Too bad, there won't be much talking. I want to keep our interactions to a minimum, is that understood xeno? I came here to help take care of your rebel problem, not to get close to some xenos." Aaron replied frowning at the inquisitor

"Ah yes, the second sister told me of your distrust of aliens but tell me, you're no longer in your galaxy, we haven't done anything to you so why the hate?" the xeno asked crossing his arms

"Aliens do not change, be they from back home or here, they will serve themselves and use those around them until they're no longer needed."

"I serve the Empire and Emperor Palpatine, just as much as you do." the xeno replied frowning back

Aaron's frown turned into a scowl when he heard what the xeno said "Don't you dare assume I serve some false Emperor... The only Emperor I serve is the God Emperor of Man and nobody else."

"And yet here you are, working for an Empire that you have no stake in." the xeno replied mockingly

"I only serve your Empire because its the closest thing to the Imperium here, not because of your Emperor or what not."

Somehow the inquisitor's frown turned into a smile "I like that fire in your eyes Krask. I believe in time we'll become close collaborators."

"I very much doubt that, the only collaboration we'll have will be only during missions, nowhere else." Aaron replied crossing his arms as well

"A shame, a man of your expertise would make a fine partner... Ahh well." The alien finally conceded uncurling his arms

A silence fell over the two as neither spoke nor made any move. Aaron was the first to break the silence "So, when did you arrive?" he asked the alien

"A mere hour ago. I must say that the trials were very lackluster..." he replied in a rather bored tone

His reply confused Aaron "Trials? Trials for what?" he asked

The xeno seemed confused by his question "What, she didn't tell you?" he replied as a grin formed on his face "That youngling you and the second sister collected a while back. He alongside four others collected by other inquisitors were put to trial for becoming inquisitors. Unfortunately, all of them were weak willed and perished."

"I see" Aaron replied uncaring that he got a xeno child killed "Better that they died."

One of the xeno's hairless brows raised at the reply "And why is that may I ask?" he asked

"Better that they all die rather than become abominable sorcerers." Aaron sternly replied looking the alien square in the eyes

The xeno's frown returned "Remember that you serve the very 'sorcerers' you despise Krask." he said turning towards the door "Get yourself in gear, I want a full meeting in less than thirty minutes in Agent Kallus's office."

With that the alien left leaving Aaron to scowl at the empty room in silence _How dare he... _he angrily thought to himself as he started putting on his armor, deciding to leave his weapon behind. The trip to the office was short and Aaron found that he was the first to arrive as he took a seat and waited for the rest. The grand inquisitor and the agent arrived shortly after.

"Welcome back inquisitor" Kallus said sitting down at his desk "I gather the trials went well?"

"Quite the contrary, all but one subjects were forceless and none survived but this isn't why I called you here, the rebels." the inquisitor replied as he started pacing around the room "I heard of that debacle at the old senate building and I must say that i'm rather disappointed in you two, not only did you let the rebels escape but you also effectively disabled an Imperial asset, the exiled senator."

Aaron rolled his eyes in annoyance at the accusation _I arrived a day before the trap... I had nothing to do with that plan_ he thought to himself as he listened on. The agent on the other hand looked inbetween angry and ashamed at the accusations.

"And that is why i'm taking full command of any anti-rebel operations on Lothal." the inquisitor announced turning to face Kallus

A frown formed on the agent's face but he seemed rather accepting of the decision "Very well inquisitor." he replied nodding

Aaron silently accepted knowing that he had no say in the matter. He was sent here to assist the grand inquisitor and gather information about the rebels and he didn't want to change that, even if it infuriated him to know that he was working for a xeno.

"I want you to put-" the inquisitor was interrupted when Kallus's comm beeped. He patched it through the computer in his desk an a hologram of minister Tua appeared.

"What is it minister? I'm in a rather important meeting right now." the agent asked

"I'm sorry for disrupting your meeting agent but I've just been informed that Grand Moff Tarkin's ship has just entered the system and is making its way towards us." She informed the agent

"Very well, send word to the garrison to form up in the main hangar, we'll be down there shortly." Kallus replied

She nodded and the transmission ended. Aaron felt intrigued by this character as he heard of him several times and how he held much power over the outer rim and now that he came here it meant one thing. The Empire took notice of these rebels and were sending someone more capable _I'm rather insulted._

"The Grand Moff is here? This isn't going to end well." Kallus said rising from his desk

"And unannounced too, this will definitely won't end well." the inquisitor mused as he made his way towards the door

Aaron on the other hand was confused at change of attitude of the two "So, whats the catch with the guy, I heard he holds a lot of power over the outer rim but just how powerful is he?" he asked the two as they made their way towards the main hangar. Around them the occasional pilot and soldier were hastily making their way towards the hangar as well _Looks like the minister woke up the whole building_ Aaron thought to himself

"To answer your question, Grand Moff Tarkin is simply the most powerful man in the outer rim. He holds enough power that he could decimate entire star systems if he wanted to." the inquisitor replied

"I see, so he's comparable to an actual inquisitor from back home, not as powerful though" Aaron said nodding _Rather funny how this Grand Moff holds more power than the inquisitors of this Empire. Aren't they supposed to be the agents of their throne? _he though to himself

The rest of the trip was spent in relative silence as the trio made their way towards the main hangar. As they neared it the volume of troops moving about the place rose as more and more soldiers piled in the hangar. when they entered the hangar they saw how many soldiers were moving about the place, ranging from simple pilots and vehicle drivers to stormtroopers forming up on each side of the room with the minister in the middle giving out orders to everyone. As they neared her she turned to face them and in that moment Aaron saw the concern and fear that was plastered on her face although it didn't last long as she visibly relaxed when she saw them.

"Finally you've arrived. I was beginning to think you'd be late for the Grand Moff's arrival." she said moving next to them

"Do not worry about us being late minister, worry about the common soldiers that had not arrived." Kallus said looking around at the incomplete formations all around. The minister turned to look around and concern reappeared on her face. She activated her comm and started barking orders for the soldiers to double their efforts. It seemed to work as the room started filling faster and before long everyone was present and accounted.

After about twenty minutes of waiting they saw a star destroyer come into view out in the distance. From it a lambda shuttle flanked by two TIE fighters appeared and made their way towards their hangar. The TIE fighters broke off as they neared the complex while the shuttle maintained its course. It landed at the edge of the hangar and descended its ramp. From it two troopers descended wielding long rifles that looked like krieg heavy stubbbers and before them an old man followed closely.

To Aaron there was something about the old man. Despite his advanced age, he held himself upright with little difficulty, his grayish blue eyes scanned the area like a commissar would scan the frontline for cowards, yet the better than thou aura that he emanated when he approached put a damper on his respect for the man. This man could be classified as a new breed of general in Aaron's opinion as he only knew two types. The brave ones who led their men from the front and knew what they were doing or the cowardly ones who cowered in the back and had no idea how to lead armies. He never saw a man who led from the back and knew what he was doing. _This'll be interesting_ he mused to himself as he watched the man approach.

As the Grand Moff neared them the minister put on the friendliest face Aaron saw since coming on this planet and addressed the man "Ahh Grand Moff Tarkin, I am honoured by your visit to Lothal." She said in a very formal way

The Grand Moff rolled his eyes before replying "My visit is harly an honour minister." he said as he passed them

"I admit I was surprised you were coming." she said as she made to follow him. For a second she looked like she was having a panic attack before she calmed herself

"And I too were surprised by whats been happening on your little backwater world." Tarkin said as he stopped to look back

_Backwater world? You should take a look at the standard Hiveworld from the Imperium and then make assumptions_ Aaron thought to himself as he listened on

"Ahh, if you're referring to the insurgents I..." the minister tried to explain the situation but couldn't find the correct words.

The Grand Moff wasted no time to press the accusations "In the absence of Governor Pryce, you have had a single, single objective minister, to protect the Empire's industrial interests here, into this which are vital to our expansion into the Outer Rim, but instead of protecting those interests you have allowed a cell of insurgents to flourish right under your nose, am I correct?"

The minister looked down in shame as she couldn't reply. The Grand Moff continued his accusations turning to Kallus "And agent Kallus, have you just stood idly by while this rabble had attacked me, destroyed our property and disrupted our trade?"

Kallus's body tensed as he replied "I've exhausted every resource to capture them sir. This group has proven quite elusive." he explained

"It's said their leader is a jedi." the minister added

The Grand Moff sighed and rolled his eyes "Ah yes, let us not forget the sudden appearance of a jedi. As if leaping from the pages of ancient history, a shame we don't have someone who-." he stopped as he spotted Aaron.

Aaron tensed as the Grand Moff studied him intensely "And who are you supposed to be?" he asked

"I'm Krask, the inquisitor's assistant." Aaron replied sternly

Tarkin turned to look at the grand inquisitor "And why would the grand inquisitor require an assistant may I ask? Are you not supposed to be the best of your kind?" he asked the inquisitor

The inquisitor narrowed his eyes as he replied "I required his assistance because of his experience and expertise. He's proven himself quite reliable in the past month he served the Empire."

Tarkin looked unconvinced "I shall see to that in the coming days." he said tuning to the minister "Back to the topic, minister, have you ever met a jedi?" he asked the woman

"No, I-" she tried to reply but couldn't find the words

"I actually knew the jedi, not from the pages of folklore or children's tales, but as flesh and blood. And do you know what happened to them? he asked

"Well, there were rumors-" the minister started but was cut off by Tarkin

"They died, every last one of them." he said straightening himself upright "So you see this criminal cannot be what he claims to be, and I shall prove it." he continued turning and moving towards the hangars exit

The group went after him, easily catching up to him. They continued to talk about how the Grand Moff took control of all operations on the planet, much to the grand inquisitor's and Kallus's dislike but Aaron didn't pay much attention. His attention was on what the Grand Moff said earlied, about how all jedi were dead. _That can't be right, only a couple of days ago me and the second sister took out that jedi xeno on that planet which I still can't remember the name of and those two jedi rebels on this planet. They have sorcerous powers... Okay only the adult kanan has but still... although I didn't feel that sensation with these guys. Could it truly be that they aren't true jedi? I still have to look further into it. _He thought to himself as he followed the group, they went over the many floors of the complex and showed the Grand Moff the inner layout of the building. He wasn't impressed one bit and showed distaste with how inefficient the staff worked. It had been one hour in before Kallus's comm beeped

He patched it through and in came the voice of an officer "This is Commandant Comberlayne Aresko to Agent Kallus, we have engaged the rebel group in the outlying town designated LC- 04 and are meeting heavy resistance. I request reinforcements." he said to the agent

"Very well, I shall dispatch you a squad of bike troopers." Kallus replied to the commandant "Failure will not be tolerated." he warned and terminated the comm link

"Should I move to support them sir?" Aaron asked looking at Kallus

The Grand Moff help one of his hands up "That won't be necessary. Let them handle the situation and if they fail, I shall personally judge them tomorrow." he replied, his tone turning dark at the last sentence

"very well." Aaron replied and the group resumed their tour through the complex

About half an hour later, the commandant contacted them informing them that the rebels had escaped and the Grand Moff didn't look one bit happy. _Well, that guy's dead... Ahh well, never like the guy anyway._ Truth be told, Aaron didn't like most officers from this planet as they were more corrupt than the average Imperial noble from back home. The rest of the tour went just like guard duty for imperial guardsmen, boring with little to no action and by midnight Aaron returned to his quarters. "So much for sleeping early..." he muttered to himself as he started stripping his armor. After he stripped his armor he was about to go to sleep but he hesitated, turning to look at his desk and the long range transmitter.

Deciding that informing the second sister of Tarkin's arrival was for the best he sat down and started working away. "Lets see if I still remember how to work this thing." he muttered to himself as he pressed buttons. In truth, he enjoyed the idea of not needing astropaths to send messages across space and this kind of device would do wonders to the Imperium... if only they had it_ I wonder if humanity in the dark age of technology had this kind of stuff _he wondered as he worked on. After about a minute, his luck seemed to hold as a hologram of the second sister appeared

"I wasn't expecting to be contacted by you, is there something you need?" she asked

"More like there's something new you need to know." Aaron replied holding up his dataslate.

She nodded turning and telling the unseen crew from the Avalon's bridge to leave. Once they left she turned back and started typing on her console.

"There" she said after she finished typing "No one will be able to track or intercept this transmission, How much information do you have for me?" she asked

"Not much, the rebel group is small, self sufficient and don't have any ties to other cells from what I learned." he informed her

"A shame, still though, do you know how to send me the data you have for now?" she asked

Aaron looked at his dataslate for a second "I can certainly try, although I'm not well versed in your technology." he connected his dataslate to the console and started typing, his luck still hadn't ran out as he started sending data away

The inquisitor looked at her console and slowly nodded "You certainly sent me more footage than needed, there's at least five years of footage here." she said looking back at Aaron

"Still though, there's some notes I made on the rebels there too."

She nodded "Very good Aaron, any update on the grand inquisitor?"

"Today I finally met him, don't know how to describe him as of now. Bloody xeno mocked me when we met and then defended me later on..." he explained

"I see, keep me posted Aaron and try to sabotage him as much as possible. I can't wait to hear of his death."

"Very well." Aaron replied with a smirk then remembered why he called her "Oh, I almost forgot. Grand Moff Tarkin just decided to drop by and assume command of all operations on the planet."

Aaron couldn't tell if she was happy or angry because of her mask but could tell that her mood changed when she heard that "That totally changes my plans..." she muttered to herself "Very well then, continued as instructed but try to sabotage the grand inquisitor as much as possible." she continued

"But why though? What could we possibly gain from sabotaging him? Not that I like him or anything."

"If he were to die or fail in his tasks he would be... terminated for his incompetence and another inquisitor sent in his stead." she replied

"And that inquisitor is you." Aaron deduced

"Bingo."

"Still though I must ask, why these rebels? Didn't that jedi you killed amount to anything? I mean you said you want redemption but wouldn't killing a jedi grant you it?" he asked

"There's a great difference between killing a jedi on a backwater world that nobody cares about and killing two on a world that half the inner core watches with interest. I see now why Tarkin was sent to Lothal, the Emperor took notice and is dissappointed with how things are being resolved." she explained

"I see, very well I shall continue my task."

"Good, keep me posted." and with that the transmission ended. Aaron laid back into his chair and took a deep breath _That went better than expected _he thought as he rose up and went to his bed. That night the only dreadful thought that crossed Aaron's mind was what tasks would the inquisitor make him do in the coming days.

* * *

The following day Aaron found out just how evil inquisitors were when it came to waking up. If the second sister would wake him up early and tell him to do a list of tasks the grand inquisitor decided to wake him up even earlier and ordered him to accompany him on a series of tasks given by the newly self appointed temporary governor Tarkin ranging from inspections to packet deliveries all the way to mere patrols. Aaron also had the misfortune to oversee a group of cadets as they trained in their training area. The course was actually made so that the cadets actually had to think before they made any moves as they jumped from grav platform to another. The cadets were another case, worthless in Aaron's opinion, or it probably was his stormtrooper training that spoke. Instead of being taught to work together they favored individualism, working mostly for themselves and sometimes even sabotaging their fellow cadets during the course.

It was already afternoon when the Grand Moff recalled them back to the complex for a meeting. Aaron already knew what was about to happen and didn't look forward to it. Despite knowing that the Commandant was an inept and corrupted officer, he could still be useful in other ways rather than dead. When they arrived at the former office of Kallus which the Grand Moff decided to take as his, they found the Moff alongside Kallus and the minister inside. They stood silent but from the frown on Kallus's face it was clear that he argued with the Moff on something and failed, most likely about the Commandant.

"You asked for us governor?" the inquisitor asked as they came in the office

"Yes, come in, the others shall be here in due time." he replied from behind his desk

The two maneuvered around the table and positioned behind him with the rest. No one spoke or made any sounds as they waited for the Commandant and the Taskmaster to arrive

Only after ten minutes did the two arrive, doing military salutes as they entered "Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko and Taskmaster Myles Grint reporting." the Commandant introduced themselves

"Gentlemen, sit." the Grand Moff motioned his hand at the two chairs before his desk

The two shared a look with each other before making their way to the chairs and sat down

Once they were seated the Grand Moff continued "I understand you have experience dealing with these insurgents?" he asked

"Yes sir." the Commandant quickly responded

"And your efforts have been less than successful?" Tarkin asked while the Grand inquisitor slowly made his way behind the two. Aaron knew what was about to happen but decided that speaking his mind was most definitely detrimental to his position right now.

"Uh we-well I-I can't say-" the commandant stuttered but was cut off by the Moff

"Commandant, if your efforts had been successful we would not been having this little chat." he said sighing softly before continuing "Now, when was the last activity reported?" he asked

"Sir, we uh, we personally responded to an attack last night in one of the outlying towns." the Taskmaster explained

"And the details of this attack?"

"Nothing of note, the insurgents stole some supplies and escaped on speeder bikes." the Commandant quickly responded "No casualties."

The Moff looked unconvinced "But there is something of note, no casualties." the Moff said rising from his chair "Your rebel cell has more principles than others."

The Taskmaster's face turned into confusion when he heard of other cells "Other cells? You mean there are other cells?" he asked

"Cells, factions, tribes call them whatever you want... They all lack the one thing that would make them an incredible threat to the Empire." he paused long enough for the other two to look at each other "Unity" their gazes snapped back at the Moff "While your cell seems uninterested in violence, it does present a specific threat. The jedi." he continued

"We have encountered them sir and they live up to their reputation." the Commandant replied while the Taskmaster nodded his head

"Though I doubt that very much, I'm not concerned with his skill as a warrior, I'm more concerned with what he represents, or rather what you let them represent by failing to stop him... Hope" he accused the two officers stopping for a second to look at the inquisitor "There are whispers of these alleged jedi in the streets. In time such whispers might spark belief in others than the strength and security of the Empire." he paused turning to look at Aaron "Krask, I've had a little time to look into your file last night. How would your Imperium deal with such incompetence?" he asked the man

Aaron tensed up as he was called, hesitating for a second he turned to look at the agent and the minister. Kallus's face remained unchanged from before, still frowning he slowly shook his head signalling him to try to save the two. The minister's face was plastered with concern with what was about to happen

"I don't have all day Krask." the Moff said snapping Aaron back

He straightened up and responded "W-well I'm no Arbite but if I were to list all of his offenses we would be here for a couple of hours so I'll keep it short." Aaron replied back. One of the Moff's brows raised as he listened "For their failure to stop the insurgents last night, one of the regiment's commissars would have them executed." he explained

"I see." the Moff replied turning to look at the inquisitor. The alien nodded and swiftly decapitated the two officers

Aaron turned to look at the other two, finding Kallus looking at the bodies in disappointment and the minister with a shocked expression on her face

The Moff turned to look at the trio "Make no mistake, from now on failure will have consequences." he said turning to Kallus "Agent Kallus, you will dispatch probe droids in all of the areas where the rebels had been known to operate."

"Yes sir." the man responded and left the room

The Moff turned to look at Aaron "Krask, you will be in charge of surveillance from now on. If anything happens to any of the probe droids you will report it immediately, is that understood?" he said

"Yes sir!" Aaron saluted and also left the room only to find Kallus waiting in the corridor

"You should've at least try to save them." Kallus tried to argue but was dismissed by a flick of Aaron's wrist

"The man had already made up his mind, there was no changing it. Those men were dead the moment they failed in their duties." Aaron explained

Kallus looked like he wanted to argue more but decided to leave it sighing in contempt. The two continued to walk together in silence up until Kallus spoke up again

"Is it true what you said? About failure in the Imperium. Do they execute those who fail in their tasks only after one?" he asked

"Most of the time its just the cowards who retreat from assaults that get executed, officers included... Although it all depends on the value of the soldier at hand." Aaron said sighing softly before continuing "If its just a mere conscript who just joined the guard they'll see no problem in executing him... or worse using him as mine detector equipment."

Kallus's face turned to shock after hearing the last part "What? Why would they do that?" he asked

Aaron shrugged "Mine detectors are not always available and the guard has to do with what it has at hand." Aaron responded neutrally

"And you have more men than equipment I gather?" he asked frowning

"Depends on the regiment, if its an elite one no man will be thrown away wastefully like that, but if its a brand new one, well..." Aaron replied chuckling at the last bit

Kallus simply shook his head as the two continued their walk in silence. Eventually they came at a spot where corridor parted into two sides. On the right were surveillance and the droid deposit but Kallus decided to take the left

"Hey, the droid deposit is this way." Aaron said pointing to his right

Kallus simply continued to walk "I have to get something from my new office." he replied continuing to walk

Aaron stood silent for a second before replying "Very well, see you later." he said but the agent didn't reply

_What in the name of the Emperor is wrong with him?_ Aaron thought to himself as he made his way towards surveillance. The next hour was spent with him getting accustomed with that awful room. He did manage to cheat his duty by getting one of those cylindrical machines and instructed it to send an alarm if one of the probe droids found anything or were destroyed. It beeped at him and he realised these machines spoke in binary... he immediately started praying that a techpriest would just materialize from thin air and assist him in that moment. Such thing didn't happen and he decided to accept what the little bugger was beeping.

With time now on his hand he decided to start testing the extranet everyone kept raving about. It was supposedly an artificial link between machines across the galaxy through highly advanced technology containing large amounts of information..._ The priesthood of Mars would oil their robes if they would hear about this. _He snarkily thought to himself "Now lets see..." he muttered to himself as he searched for jedi information. He didn't find anything of worth only that they used to be the guardians of the galaxy and peacekeepers of the old Republic. Unfortunately he didn't find any information that went deep in the jedi's lore but what he did find pointed that whatever information about the jedi as a whole was closely guarded by the Empire back on Coruscant, the capital of the Empire

"Well, that was all for naught..." Aaron said aloud to no one in particular "What am I to do now..." he muttered as he looked at the console _Hmm, lets see what else is on the extranet _and so he spent the rest of the day watching stupid videos and arguing with random strangers on various threads. It had been around five afternoon Imperium time that the droid started beeping prompting Aaron to check on the disturbance. Apparently the droid over at the communications tower was damaged but captured footage of a group of people escaping on speeder bikes _The footage is scuffed but kinda clear... could be the rebels_ he thought to himself before turning to the little machine

"Send this footage over to agent Kallus immediately." he instructed the machine

It beeped at him.

"I don't understand what you're saying." Aaron replied

The machine continued beeping at the man

"Uhh... just do your Emperor forsaken job..." he said turning and made his way back to his console which had a paused video of xenos children doing weird stuff and hurting themselves. It always cheered him up when he saw more reasons why humanity was the sole species destined for greatness.

About five minutes he was contacted by agent Kallus "Krask, are you certain these are our rebels and not some hooligans?" he asked

"Most definitely, not people can afford speeder bikes and I haven't heard of any biker gangs on this planet." he explained

"Very well, where was this footage taken?"

"Over at the communications tower."

"Very well, I shall take it to the Governor." and with that the conversation ended leaving Aaron to continue laughing at the xenos as they hurt themselves trying to do acrobatic moves _No wonder the Empire won, look at these buffoons _He thought to himself smiling at the footage. At the end of the day he went to his room with a smile on his face _A day well spent... didn't cleaned my weapon, my armor, didn't do my exercises but by the Emperor did I laugh _He happily thought as he collapsed in his bed. He didn't get any sleep as he was contacted by the Grand Moff informing him to be ready for deployment at a moments notice.

Grumbling to himself he got off his bed and went over to his rack where his weapon laid _Might as well do it now... _and so he started cleaning his weapon. Twenty minutes later he finished and was about to start his exercises when he was summoned in the hangar for deployment. Quickly donning his armor and equipment he made his way to the hangar finding a large amount of troops alongside the inquisitor and the Grand Moff.

He made his way towards the two and presented himself "Sir, ready for deployment." he said saluting the Moff

The man rolled his eyes as he turned to look at the inquisitor "This is your only chance to redeem yourself and your assistant, do not fail me for there will be consequences." he ordered sternly before turning and leaving

Aaron eyed the Moff as he left before turning to look at the inquisitor "Whats this deployment about, is it the communications tower?" he asked the inquisitor

He nodded before replying "The rebels have been spotted moving towards the tower by our sentries a short while ago, we'll need to move swiftly if we're to apprehand them." he explained "Get on board and lets go." he ordered prompting Aaron to move towards the closest shuttle

* * *

The trip to the tower was tense for everyone except for the inquisitor. Aaron muttered all of his prayers and litanies of battle while he waited in the shuttle. Apparently they planned this operation ahead of time and didn't bother to inform him, most likely because he was busy wasting time on the extranet. After a short while after leaving the capital onto the main highway towards the comm tower they reached the armoured convoy led by Kallus. He was tasked with leading the ground forces while the inquisitor was tasked with the airborne ones.

As the tower came into view it was clear that the small garrison defending the tower had been dispatched by the rebels as one of the surrounding anti-air opened fire at the shuttles. They did evasive maneuvers but the middle one wasn't fast enough as it was hit twice by the twin linked lasers. It caught fire and blew up killing all of the soldiers inside.

The lead armoured transport from down below retaliated firing accurate shots at the rebel turret. It was at that moment that Aaron saw who was manning the turret. The purple xeno as he jumped from the turret as it exploded onto a speeder bike commanded by the child and drove to the tower's entry where the jedi Kanan waited for them. It looked like he instructed all of the other rebels to go back inside the building ass all but him remained outside.

The transports were the first to arrive on the scene, unloading Kallus and his troops as they took positions around the jedi. They talked about something but Aaron couldn't make out what they were saying over such a distance.

Finally they too had arrived and the inquisitor turned to look at him "Take your men to the highest point of the tower and cut off the rebels, I'll deal with this jedi... Remember shoot to incapacitate, we need them alive." he instructed Aaron

"Understood." Aaron replied nodding. He didn't like the idea of apprehending the rebels alive but if that's what the Moff wanted then that's what he would do

The inquisitor then turned and jumped from the ship, landing before the jedi and activating his lightsaber. Aaron turned to the pilot and instructed him to take them to the highest level of the tower. His ship alongside the other rose up, his coming up at the back while the other at the front. As Aaron and his squad disembarked he heard blaster fire from the other side, quickly being followed by a loud explosion _Looks like its up to us now... _he grimly thought to himself as he instructed his squad to take both sides of the level, him taking the left.

They quickly reached the rebels, finding the kid, the mando girl , the lasat xeno and their little machine looking down the railing down at the battle below.

"Get them!" Aaron shouted at his troops as they opened fire. The kid activated his lightsaber and started deflecting shots and to Aaron's surprise he became even better at it than before. The group on the right also joined in shooting at the rebels catching them in a nice encirclement with their only defense being the kid with his lightsaber on the left.

This somehow allowed the rebels to focus on the right, with the lasat overpowering one of the troopers and throwing him into another while the mando girl dispatched the other two.

"Pathetic soldiers!" Aaron bellowed in anger and he fired single shots at the rebels. This was so that he didn't accidentally killed one of them. Still, he was yet to actually hit one of them as all of his shots were deflected by the kid. Actually, only he and another stormtrooper were actually managing to land hits around the kid as the other two were firing all over the place.

Now that the group on the right was dealt with the rebels came back and focused on Aaron's group. "Focus on buckethead prime!" the mando girl shouted over the sounds of blasters

The rebels opened fire on Aaron, hitting him once in the chest. His armor held and he was forced to do a combat roll into cover behind a small wall while his troops laid suppressing fire. One of the troopers took out one of his grenades and threw it at the rebels, forcing them to retreat back. Aaron rose from his cover and was about to follow after the rebels but their shuttle decided to pound the rebels from behind, forcing them back to the elevator where they took defensive positions.

It was at that moment that the kid raised his hands to surrender. His friends looked at him and for a second it looked like they wanted to go down guns blazing but they decided to surrender as well. Even their little machine which hid throughout the engagement threw its little arms in the air.

"Looks like were done here." Aaron said to his troops as they advanced towards the rebels. In the air their shuttle kept its guns pointed at the surrendering group and didn't see the incoming fighter.

The unknown fighter opened fire on the shuttle destroying it and continuing its strafing run onto Aaron's group. It killed two of his men and forced him and the other trooper that survived into cover. The fighter disappeared into the clouds as if it didn't exist.

The rebels, seeing that now they had a chance, picked up their weapons and opened fire on Aaron's position. Angered by how the situation changed, Aaron switched to full auto and let loose a rapid burst at the kid. Shocked by how fast the shots came, the kid didn't react in time and was shot twice in the side. He fell down screaming and clutching his wounds

"Ezra!" the xeno shouted before his face contorted with anger "Ohh, I'm gonna make you pay for this..." he rumbled to Aaron

Aaron looked unconvinced "Come then! Let me show you how the Imperium deals with your filthy kind!" he shouted making the xeno to snarl and launch himself at Aaron. While he engaged the xeno in melee the other trooper exchanged shots with the mando girl.

"I'm getting tired of seeing you!" the alien shouted sending a powerful fist towards Aaron. He dodged and retaliated swinging his lasgun as a bat at the alien. The blow connected into the xeno's ribs making him wince in pain before trying his old tactic of grabbing Aaron. His instinct flared and he jumped back but wasn't fast enough to dodge the incoming kick. It connected with his stomach and threw him back next to the other trooper.

He rose to his feet and hefted his lasgun and fired. The xeno reacted fast and combat rolled next to the girl in cover. Snarling in anger Aaron made to go after them but the trooper stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

"Don't go out in the open like that!" he shouted hefting a grenade

Aaron nodded and watched as the stormtrooper threw his grenade. After it exploded he charged across finding the two rebels in their cover. He immediately let loose a short burst that didn't hit anything and threw himself at the xeno using his weapon as a bat again, managing to hit the alien in the head. Dazed, the xeno stumbled back while Aaron set his sights on the girl. She fired her pistols into his chest making him cry in pain. Although the shots didn't do anything other than leave burn marks on his plate it still hurt him internally.

He pushed through the pain and overpowered the girl, pinning her to the wall. He was an Imperial Stormtrooper, born and bred for war. He didn't spend eleven years of his childhood through that torture they called training back at schola only to be bested by a bunch of peasants with guns and the thought of it only enraged him further. He raised his fist and struck down on her head. Her helmet was hard but he didn't care as he raised it again, and again.

"This is for shooting me in the head!" Aaron snarled at the girl as he struck down one last time as she fell down groaning in pain. His revenge didn't last long as the xeno grabbed him from behind and slammed his body into the floor. He cried out in pain and slowly started to climb back up but was once more by a kick to his chest.

Then he saw the xeno stand over his body with his weapon raised._ Emperor... I have failed you..._ he thought to himself sadly as he resigned his fate. There was a shot, but it wasn't from the alien. Looking around Aaron saw the other trooper stand there. He shot the xeno with a stun round, knocking him out.

"You guys have stun round?!" Aaron shouted at the trooper making him tilt his head

"What, don't you have it as well?" he asked looking at Aaron's gun

"No... ah well." Aaron said turning to the alien "We'll say this one resisted." he said raising his weapon

"We were instructed to take them alive." the trooper said coming to Aaron's side "What'll happen if the brass find out?"

"They won't find out, trust me." Aaron reassured. The trooper nodded and Aaron raised his weapon again.

He was about to fire but at that exact moment the fighter returned and opened fire on the two. Both Aaron and the trooper jumped out of the way as the fighter made its strafing run.

"Keep it busy!" Aaron ordered the trooper while he raised his weapon to kill the xeno

In that moment he heard the kid shout and he felt his throat slowly being crushed. he slowly turned to look at the kid, finding out that the trooper as well was being subjected to the treatment. The kid on the other half was still clutching his wounds and wore a terrified expression on his face as he held one of his hands out.

Aaron found it harder and harder to breath and fell to his knees. It all happened in a few seconds but as the kid released his hold on him he felt totally exhausted and found it hard to move as he looked at the kid. Tears were flowing down his cheeks as he looked at his open palm.

The fighter came back once again and positioned itself over at the railing. The little droid popped out of its hiding spot and started nudging the xeno while the door on the fighter opened revealing the twi'lek pilot _Accursed freak..._ despite finding it hard to even think he still could feel his hate of aliens. The pilot quickly made its way to the kid but he sent her to the mandalorian girl and picked her up.

Aaron tried to rise up, managing to get to a sitting position and looked around for his weapon. He found the droid standing next to him. It started beeping angrily and from one of its thin appendages it sent electricity throughout his body. Aaron didn't make a noise as he fell down again, only slight twitches and jerks.

"Chopper, stop what you're doing and help us!" the pilot ordered. Somehow Aaron was thankful for her order as the shocks stopped.

The remaining rebels quickly picked their unconscious friends and piled them into the ship before departing themselves, leaving the groaning Aaron behind. He started climbing to his feet again and, after a few attempts he succeeded. Never in his life he thought that he would be strangled by unseen forces then be electrocuted by machines but such was life now.

Going to check on the other troopers he found that the only other soldiers that survived were the one who stunned the xeno and another guy from the group that came on the right side. Sighing he activated his comm "Krask to inquisitor, respond." he waited a couple of moments for the alien to respond

"Situation?" the inquisitor asked

"Engaged the rebel forces, heavily wounded them before they escaped." He informed the inquisitor expecting to be berated.

That berate didn't come as the inquisitor replied in a neutral tone "Very well, we got what we came here for, come down for debrief." with that the transmission ended

Aaron almost decided to inform the inquisitor about the powers that the kid used but decided not to _Better to keep him in the dark._ he thought to himself as he made his way to the elevator. He instructed the two troopers still alive to commence clean up and went down and out of the tower.

He was pleasantly surprised to find the inquisitor and two other troopers guarding the jedi.

"You look like you went through hell." Kallus said from his back

Aaron turned and nodded "Those rebels proved to be more dangerous when cornered, at least my armor held." he said moving his palm over some burn marks over his chest

"Quite the resilient material, too bad it cannot be found in this galaxy." Kallus replied coming to Aaron's side "Wait, weren't there more soldiers that came from your galaxy? What happened to their equipment?" he asked

Aaron shrugged before replying "Don't know, I snatched my equipment and some extra and from what I heard, after testing the flak armor and weapons they sent them to more advanced research centers. Don't care much about them to be honest."

"Why don't you care? That ceramite material is clearly superior to what we have." he argued

"Pfft superior." Aaron snorted "Superior doesn't mean much from where I come from. Back home even my suit of armor is useless against some weapons that are common on the frontlines. From heavy bolters, multilasers and plasma weapons armor means very little."

The agent's eyes widened when he heard of plasma weapons "Plasma weapons? You mean handheld plasma weapons?" he asked

"Yes, don't tell me. You people didn't invent plasma based weaponry." Aaron replied

"Actually we did, although we never perfected it to be fielded in the field by soldiers." the agent said

Aaron held a hand up "I never said we perfected them, there's still the risk of the gun blowing up if it overheats but overall it works fine if you fire moderate shots."

The agent nodded and turned to enter the tower "I've got some stuff to do, see you later Krask." and with that he left

Aaron then went to the grand inquisitor's side, looking down at the jedi "Sir, I've failed-" he started but stopped when the alien held up one of his arms

"It is no problem that the others have escaped, we've got what we wanted." he said turning to look at Aaron "There is something I must ask you Krask, I felt something in the force when battling the jedi, something dark emanating from the top of the tower. What was it?" he asked making Aaron hesitate

_Should I tell him? _Aaron thought to himself looking at the inquisitor _nah..._ "I don't know sir, if you felt something at the top of the tower it wasn't the kid, he showed no use of his sorcerer powers, only deflected shots." he lied to the inquisitor

The inquisitor looked thoughtful for a second before he replied "If it wasn't the child then who was it?" he demanded "Was it you?"

"Impossible, I'm forceless." Aaron replied

"I knew it!" a third voice joined in. The two turned to look at the jedi who was staring at Aaron "That's why I couldn't sense you. The force doesn't exist within you." he deduced looking at Aaron

"Yea yea, why does every force user have to say that every time I meet them?" Aaron replied exasperated. he then turned to look around for a second before turning to look at the inquisitor "Should we commence clean up sir?" he asked

"Its already in effect, go and assist, I'll keep our friend company." the inquisitor replied patting the jedi on the shoulder

* * *

The clean up took longer than he liked it to and he had to threaten the two troopers that went up with him to not tell the inquisitor about what happened. It was already early in the morning when they finally ended the operation. It was around this time that the Grand Moff decided to drop by and pay them a visit via shuttle. When he arrived he went immediately to see the jedi.

"Well done inquisitor, these are the results I expect." The Moff congratulated the inquisitor as he inspected the jedi's lightsaber before turning his gaze to the jedi "So, you are the jedi in question?" he asked the jedi

"Whatever you want from me, you won't get it." Kanan replied with a slight venom to his voice

Aaron then turned to look at an incoming agent Kallus as he came next to the Moff

"Sir, we have a problem." he informed the Moff

"Explain!" the Moff ordered

"It appears the insurgents have gained control over the towers transmitter." he explained bringing up a handheld transmitter. A message came through, spoken by the kid, Ezra Bridger as he spoke against the Empire.

"We have been called criminals, but we are not, we are rebels, fighting for the people, fighting for you, I'm not that old but I remember a time when things were better on Lothal, and maybe not great but never like this, and see what the empire has done to your lives, and your families and your freedom. It's only gonna get worse, unless we stand up and fight back. It won't be easy, there'll be loss and sacrifice but we can't back down just because were afraid, that's when we need to stand the tallest. That's what my parents taught me, that's what my new family helped me remember... Stand up together, because that's when were strongest... As one-"

As the kid spewed on his speech the Moff ordered all of the troops off the towers perimeter and ordered its destruction. When the tower got destroyed the transmission ended. Aaron looked on to the crumbling tower with a grim face, thankfully hidden by his helmet

"And that's how heretical thoughts are implanted..." Aaron muttered to himself "Your parents were heretics kid..." he continued chuckling to himself

Meanwhile the Moff stared intensely at the jedi "You do not know what it takes to win a war, but I do." he told the jedi

Kallus then turned to the pilot "Take us back to the Imperial complex." he ordered the pilot

The Moff turned to look at Kallus "It won't be necessary agent. I'll have the jedi transported aboard my Star Destroyer. I'll also have you three reassigned on that ship as a means of assisting in extracting information from the jedi." he said to the agent

"I'll have to gather my equipment then." Aaron muttered to himself

"You'll have everything you need aboard the _Sovereign,_ from food to new armor, your's have seen better days I must say." The Moff apparently heard Aaron's mutters

"With all respect sir but I'd rather keep my ceramite over your armor, it's more durable and after some cleaning its good as new." Aaron replied "And there are some things I left behind at the complex I'd rather take with me." he continued

"Very well, but tomorrow you will report on the ships deck at the first hour, is that understood?" the Moff asked

"Yes sir!"

The rest of the trip back to the complex was spent in relative silence as they waited. About twenty minutes later they dropped Aaron at the complex while the rest went to the _Sovereign_. He took this opportunity to go sleep for a couple of hours as the night before he didn't get any. After he woke up it was already past noon and found out he slept with his armor on. Cursing through the pains he now felt he went to the medics to get himself treated before retreating back to his quarters to clean his weapon and armor and pack his bags.

After another two hours he was packed and ready to leave when he hesitated looking at the transmitter on his desk. Deciding that informing the second sister about this new development was a good idea he got to work contacting her. It didn't take as long as last time as he now knew what commands to put in. Her hologram appeared and this time she didn't had to tell anyone to leave.

"I had a feeling you would contact me." she said in her usual bored tone

"What, did I start being sensed in the force?" Aaron asked confused

"No, but its hard to not notice when news start spreading from Lothal that Grand Moff Tarkin had captured a jedi." she replied her voice becoming more stern "Tell me everything that happened."

Aaron proceeded to tell her everything that happened, from their deploying to the comm's tower, to the battle on the highest level and the near capture of all the rebels. She looked angry at the capture of all the rebels as she wanted herself to do it herself and not someone else. Aaron didn't give much information from the battle down below, only that the xeno pilot engages the ground transports in strafing runs and assisted the jedi before they departed without him. He then went on to explain how the jedi is now being held on the Grand Moff's ship and would be subjected to 'intense interrogation' which simply meant torture until he cracked.

"That puts a damper on my plan... And I know you wouldn't do anything crazy on the Moff's ship." she after Aaron finished explaining

"Frak no, I'm not crazy. That man is a General and Commissar rolled into one... Minus the physique." Aaron replied

"In order for my plan to work and take over the Grand inquisitors position in the operation I'll need him out of the picture." she said crossing her arms

"And what do you want me to do huh? Shoot him in the back of the head?" he asked sarcastically. It actually started to annoy him how much this woman wanted the Grand inquisitor dead... why not just come here and kill him herself if she wanted him dead so much, it would certainly make things easier for him as he wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.

"Of course not... maybe the jedi's friends, from your notes I understand they have a close bond, don't they?" she asked

"Yes they do, the kid even called their group 'family' during his little speech. Of them I know they'll try something at any moment." Aaron replied

"Then I'll hope for them to rescue the jedi and kill the Grand inquisitor... I can't believe I said that..." she said muttering the last part to herself

"I can't believe you said that either, is this transmission protected?" Aaron asked

"It is."

"I see, well, there's nothing more t- wait... there's one more thing inquisitor." Aaron remembered about something from last night

"tell me."

"Do jedi use their powers to strangle their opponents?"

"No, only the users of the dark side use that. Why?" she replied

"Because the kid strangled me last night through his sorcerous powers."

The inquisitor remained silent as she thought, eventually starting to chuckly darkly "So the child has tapped into the dark side... This is some good news Aaron." she replied

"What kind of good? Good good or bad good?" Aaron asked

The inquisitor sighed as she heard his stupidity "It means that we could sway him to our side, turn him to the dark side." she explained

"I see, and that conclude's it, I have nothing else to report... gotta get my arse on the _Sovereign_ before the Moff asks for me."

"Very well, try to keep me posted while you're at it." and with that the transmission ended

Aaron once more laid back in his chair and sighed deeply _How in the name of the Emperor can I sabotage that alien while on the governor's ship... might as well wait for the rebels, they most definitely will do something... their bond is too strong to abandon one another. _He thought to himself as he rose to his feet and made his way to his door _At least I won't have to learn the inner layout of that ship as I am accustomed with the avalon._

* * *

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**"Rebel Resolve"  
**

**part 1**

Aaron sighed as he laid back in his chair _What did I do to deserve this?_ he thought to himself looking at the information on the monitor. Ever since they captured the jedi and relocated aboard the Star Destroyer the Grand Moff decided to put Aaron in charge of sorting through the data and information coming from the planet. _Should've kept my damn mouth shut when that old man asked about my knowledge about logistics... _It wasn't something that he didn't know how to do, rather it was one of the most boring assignments he could've get. Regardless of how he felt he still did his duty as he was asked.

"Now lets see..." Aaron muttered to himself as he went over the information one more time. It wasn't anything of particular interest, just a couple of unit reassignments, patrols and new checkpoints set around in the capital, _The minister must be having the time of her life down on the surface. _Aaron thought smirking to himself. The most interesting bit of information he got so far was a report earlier today stating that the rebels had broken into two different checkpoints and ambushed an armoured patrol. Each instance they hacked into the local systems before they withdrew. _Most likely searching for information regarding their jedi friend. _Aaron though to himself frowning thinking about the jedi.

As much as he wanted to have a chat and get to know more of the jedi he couldn't because he was stuck reading useless reports from the surface..._ Couldn't they put someone else other than me? _Truth be told, he had no idea what was going on down in the brig, how the interrogation was going or if the jedi gave them any information. Sighing again he resigned himself to his task and inserted a datapack into the computer, downloading the most vital information onto the pack before turning to the astromech droid that stood idle at the back of the room.

"Oi junk pile, come here." Aaron called out to the machine. It beeped once and made its way to him "Take this pack to the Moff's office and I swear by the Golden Throne if you deviate from your course I'll personally dismantle you, is that understood machine?" Aaron ordered giving the datapack to the machine.

The little bugger visibly shuddered before beeping back, most likely in confirmation. It took the pack with one of its small appendages before turning and leaving the room, leaving Aaron alone to relax for the first time of the day. "Definitely harder than my time as a Captain back in the guard..." Aaron muttered to himself. While it was definitely easier to look over the information on the computer rather than the old style parchments of the Imperium, the ability to fill datapacks with as much information as one could made the task incredibly long and tedious. _Still much faster than back in the Imperium _he thought to himself reminiscing of the moment when he became a Captain and had to wait three months just to get new orders. _Most boring promotion ever..._

His thoughts train was interrupted when the door slip open revealing agent Kallus entering the room. He then slowly made his way towards Aaron coming up next to him.

"Is there something you require?" Aaron asked turning from the computer

"Just came for the datapack with the recent information from the planet." the agent replied

"Too late, already sent it to the moff's office."

"What?" Kallus asked confused. Aaron raised one of his eyebrows at the agent's confusion "What do you mean you already sent it away? Governor Tarkin ordered me to deliver it personally." Kallus continued

"I don't know what orders you have but the moff personally gave me that so called astromech and told me to send it with the data once I sorted it through." Aaron replied

"But then what did... Oh..." Kallus's face visibly changed from one of confusion to one of mild anger

"What?"

"He just wanted to get rid of me from the interrogation's chamber." the agent's reply caught Aaron's interest as his eyebrows were raised in surprise

"I gather the interrogation isn't going so well, isn't it?" he asked

"No, that jedi Kanan refused to answer any questions and resisted the interrogation droid's specialised equipment." Kallus's reply was less than happy "Now the Governor's got the Grand inquisitor to torture the jedi until he speaks... I feel like he'll kill him before he talks."

"The jedi is stronger than he looks, I'll give him that..." Aaron muttered to himself before speaking out loud "Have you taken into consideration that maybe he doesn't know anything?"

Kallus nodded before replying "Yes, the thought crossed my mind but I have yet to tell the Governor. Anything new from Lothal?"

"Just the usual, though the rebels have been more active as of late." Aaron replied

"No wonder, with the capture of their jedi friend they're all the more active to find him. Still, I'd like to see them try to break into one of the most well defended Star Destroyers in the galaxy." Kallus said smirking

_Most well defended Star Destroyer in the galaxy... seen Cathedrals sporting more defenses than this ship back in the Imperium_ Aaron thought to himself. "Still, you've seen what they're capable of, it wouldn't surprise me if they do manage to break in." he continued

"Than we'll just have to eliminate them, simple as that."

It was at that moment that the machine returned. "Finally, did you deliver the packet?" Aaron asked turning to the machine. It beeped several times and went back to its spot at the back of the room

"What did it say?" Aaron asked turning to Kallus

"It confirmed the packet's delivery. You don't understand binary?" Kallus asked

"No."

"Aren't there droids in your Imperium?"

Aaron shook his head and replied "No, the Imperium outlawed the usage of AI's and for good reason."

"I see." Kallus seemed interested but decided not to ask further. He then turned to leave "I'd like to stay and talk some more but I believe there are other duties that I must attend."

"Very well, although could you bring me a cup of recaf? I could use one right about now." Aaron said turning to look as the agent made his way to the door. Kallus stopped right besides the door and turned to look back with a confused expression

"I don't believe I've heard of that term before? What's recaf?" he asked

"Uhh hold on let me remember what you people call it." Aaron replied before remaining silent for a couple of seconds "Tea, yea... that's what you people call it. A cup of tea please."

"Was it that hard to say?" Kallus said, his smirk returning to his face

"Hey, spend all your life saying a word one way and then go to a place where people say it differently and see how it feels." Aaron replied sarcastically

"Fine, fine no need to get worked over a simple word." Kallus replied as he opened the door. "I'll bring your cup in about half an hour." and with that he left leaving Aaron alone with the droid. Well, mostly alone as the droid stood silent at the other side of the room. _Silence... Sweet silence _he thought to himself turning to the monitor _Now, where were we?_

He spent the next two hours looking over the remaining information. The agent did bring him a cup of recaf as he asked. It was acceptable but not as good as his own recipe's he procured over the years. When he finally finished and sent the machine with the last datapack to the officers he allowed himself some time to learn more about this galaxy on the extranet. It was more of a facade as he contemplated his true purpose there.

_How in the name of the Emperor am I gonna sabotage that xeno... _he thought to himself. While he didn't really want to help that infernal woman he still felt that it was his duty to end that alien's life. _But how?_ _How am I gonna make that alien lapse in his duties enough to warrant death? Or should I just put a lasbolt through his head...no, that wouldn't do it. _While the idea of gunning that sorcerous alien down seemed pleasant to Aaron he couldn't risk his position with the Empire.

_But what if I have the rebels take care of him? But how can I make them fight him... wait _he stopped everything he was doing on the computer and stared intently at it _I could leak some information... that could work_ he turned to look around his desk, eyeing several empty datapacks still lying around. Gears started spinning in his brain as he formulated a plan. It would be a huge gamble and he could ruin his relations with the Empire but if it worked he could have the Grand Inquisitor killed without him being suspected of anything... but first

"Oi scrap pile! Bring me another cup of recaf." Aaron said to the machine at the back of the room motioning with his empty cup. The machine beeped several times but made no move towards Aaron. "Bring me another cup of recaf or I'll send word to the technicians that you suffer of faulty programming." Aaron ordered one more time.

The machine visibly shuddered again at the threat and went and took the empty cup and left. Aaron remained silent as he watched the machine leave. It felt as if the thing actually worried about its own personal safety... just like a normal person would...

He quickly shook his head and returned to his task nicking one of the datapacks and plugging it into the computer. He then quickly created a new document and filled it with as much information about the jedi he remembered, taking extra precautions not to access any of the already existing files to not alert the Empire. The process lasted about two minutes and when he was done he pocketed the datapack and resumed his old activities of browsing the extranet, learning more of the galaxy which wasn't a lot considering the amount of censoring the Empire had been doing.

He spent the rest of his shift either messing around of the computer or going over the data delivered from the planet's surface. It really had been a boring day in Aaron's opinion but it would change quickly when his shift ended and he asked to have leave for the rest of the day on the planets surface. The staff gave him only two hours for himself before he would have to report for a new assignment. Just enough for him to complete the first stage of his plan.

In truth, he started to second guess if what he was doing was good or not. To just give the rebels the location of their friend wasn't something he thought was wise but in that moment it was all he had. And so he set to go to the only place he knew the rebels frequented during their early days in the capital, long before he arrived. A small bar in the eastern side of town, owned by a xeno that the Empire knew had illegal dealing but didn't have enough information to detain him.

He reached the bar about half an hour after he set foot on the planet. It was already closing hours considering it was late in the afternoon and the sun was already starting to set. As he entered he took in his surroundings, finding the place pretty empty, it was it was already close to closing after all. Aaron took a seat at the counter and waited for the bartender.

"What will you have?" the aliens automated translator grated Aaron's ears as the alien spoke

Aaron remained silent as he viewed the various drinks in the background before settling his eyes on a transparent light-blue colored drink "I'll have some of that." he said pointing towards that drink

"Ruby bliel? Gotta say you got taste, although it ain't easy to come across and isn't cheap." the alien replied. Each word made Aaron wish all the more he could put a lasbolt inbetween the xeno's face. With its elongated and curved neck and oversized eyes it disgusted Aaron to no end... Still, this was a civilized society and he had to act according to its laws, even if it contradicted with his personal beliefs and the will of the Emperor.

"Don't care, its been a long day." Aaron said to the alien. He then waited for the xeno to bring him the bottle and pour him a small glass. Aaron then motioned for the xeno to leave the bottle there

"You sure of this?" the alien inquired "I did warn you that it isn't cheap."

"Do I look like I care? Scram back to your other customers." Aaron replied in a stern tone looking intently at the alien with a frown on his face

Despite Aaron's visible challenge the alien simply shook his head before going to attend some other customers. Seeing that he was finally alone, Aaron took the small cup and brought it to his nose, smelling the drink. It had no smell reminding his of some quality beverages from back in the Imperium. He then took a sip and slowly nodded at the drink _Note to self: Gotta get more of this for myself_ he thought to himself looking at the drink. While it felt slightly thick and viscous in his mouth it had a great taste reminding him of those quality Vostroyan brand's that many nobles would buy.

He then looked at the drinks price _Holy Terra's gold plated dirt! 150 credits a shot?! I don't have that kind of money!_ Aaron thought to himself as he viewed the cost. His mind immediately started racing considering his options. He could always simply refuse to pay but then he wouldn't be any better than the late Commandant and his lackey. He then took out his small bag in which he kept all of his credits _46 credits... not even one third of the price of one shot... _he thought to himself looking at his money. He then realised something, that he wouldn't pay with money but rather information._ Yea... that's about right but I'll have to wait for the rest of the people to leave. _

And so he waited for the bar to empty up, staying far more then he was allowed. After three more hours and half a bottle of booze he finally turned to look around the bar, finding that only he and another two guys were left. They were no concern as they were playing a card game in one of the corners. He turned to look back at the counter only to find the bartender looking at him.

"I don't know if you had a really bad day or you're simply too rich." the mechanical translation of the alien rang in Aaron's ears while he looked at the half empty bottle

"N-neither..." The first word to exit Aaron's mouth in three hours was both stuttered and slurred as he drunkenly looked at the bartender

"That would be 750 credits mister."

Aaron made a finger motion for the alien to come closer. The alien viewed the gesture with wariness but complied as he moved closer for Aaron to whisper

"I... I he-heard yo frens looked for someone..." Aaron drunkenly whispered slurring most of the words

The xeno slowly nodded looking at the drunk man. "yes." he whispered back

"He...here's the paymen..." he handed the last of his credits making sure to put the datapack in the pile as well. The alien looked at the money and spotted the pack before he nodded slowly at the drunk man

"Thank you sir, I hope you'll come again another time."

"Yea... wutever..."

Aaron then rose from his seat at the counter and made to leave the bar, slightly swaying from side to side as he walked. As he exited he donned his helmet and started walking towards the imperial complex. He didn't get far as two streets down he was intersected by a squad of stormtroopers.

"Hey you!" one of the troopers called out to him, most likely their squad leader

Aaron stopped to looked as they came towards him. He didn't feel threatened as none of the troopers had their weapons drawn or pointed at him. When they reached him the same trooper spoke

"You're that inquisitorial assistant?" the trooper inquired

"Ye."

"Good, because you're in pretty big trouble. Governor Tarkin wants to have a word with you."

"Aa great..." Aaron's slurred response made the trooper stop and study the man

"Have you been drinking sir?" the trooper asked

"Ye"

The trooper slowly shook his head as he looked at Aaron "Just what I needed..." he muttered to himself before continuing "You'll have to come with us sir, can you do that?"

"I might be d-drunk troopa but I'm still rational..." Aaron's slur didn't seem to back up his claim

"Yeah no." the trooper turned and activated his comm and called for a dropship to pick them up.

Meanwhile Aaron waited patiently at the side. Even in his drunk state his mind ran wildly with ideas as he looked on. _Wh-why does the moff want to have a wor-wr... word with me..._ he thought to himself looking as the troopers formed up to the side. None of them looked hostile but rather bored from what their body language told him. Just by that he realised that he wasn't in any big trouble but still he considered his situation _What if he found about my plan... _He would find out when he would reach him as the dropship arrived, settling down in the middle of the street.

"Come along now agent." the lead trooper said moving towards the ship

Aaron didn't hesitate as he climbed into its back and sat down on one of the seats. If the moff wanted to talk, then Aaron would comply. All he hoped was that the subject wouldn't be what he has been up to.

The trip to the Star Destroyer was a fairly short and allowed Aaron to become slightly more sober. After landing Aaron was immediately escorted to the moff's office. Inside he found the old man alongside the Grand inquisitor. The moff was seated at his desk while the inquisitor remained at his side in the background.

"Nice of you to join us agent Krask, come in." the moff ordered , his steely blue eyes were piercing holes through Aaron.

In that moment Aaron felt as if he was just a simple guardsmen under the baleful gaze of an angry commissar ready to execute him. Taking caution in measuring his steps as to no sway he made his way before the moff's desk

"You've asked for me sir?" he asked

"We can skip the whole 'Why am I here' charade agent, you know why you're here." the moff replied taking a small breath before continuing "You've been give leave for only two hours yet you've been absent for almost four without even sending any sign of life...

Thinking quickly Aaron said the first thing that came to mind "I was conducting some special operations sir." even he knew that what he said was groxshit but the alcohol made it sound more appealing in his mind

"In a bar?" the moff's reply caught Aaron off guard "Agent there's no need to lie. I already have been informed by the squad that apprehended you that you've been getting drunk in one of the local bars, is that correct?"

"It is..."

"Agent, when I first saw you I saw a seasoned soldier but now I'm starting to doubt that. Firstly you've shown lapses dealing with the insurgents at the comm's tower and now skipping assignments to get drunk. This is the second time you've disappointed me, don't do it again or there will be serious repercussions."

Aaron quickly nodded before replying "I promise it won't happen again."

"Giving your word isn't enough. From now on you will accompany the Grand inquisitor at any moment of the day and you will no longer be allowed any free time. Is that understood?" The harsh tone and demand from the moff outraged Aaron as he turned to look at the xeno's inquisitor

"But sir-"

"Is that understood?"

Aaron remained silent for a few seconds contemplating his position. He held no power over the conversation and further denying would be detrimental to his health.

"Yes sir..." he reluctantly accepted

"Good, then I shall not keep you two waiting." The moff said turning to the inquisitor "Return to your task of interrogating the jedi at once."

"As you command." the inquisitor finally spoke before leaving the moff's side and moving towards the exit. Aaron followed him as they left the office and went down the corridor until they rounded the first corridor where the inquisitor stopped to look at Aaron.

"What?" Aaron asked

"What you did was stupid Krask, why did you even do it?" the alien asked

"Why do you care?"

"Just morbid curiosity."

"Its just that even after all this time that I spent here everything feels alien to me. I still wish that I could just go back to the Imperium but I can't and even if the Empire is similar to the Imperium its not the same at all. Its goal is completely different and there is no state religion to unify everyone under. I long for the ability to participate in a simple sermon or to pray wherever I want and that just demoralizes me." Despite having to cover for the real reason he went to that bar Aaron did meant every word he said. The Empire, while it did operate in a similar manner as the Imperium and was conducting its own great crusade uniting most of the galaxy wasn't the same as the Imperium. Its goal wasn't to create a powerful human society that controlled the stars but rather control everything in the known galaxy and while humanity was the primary race contributing to that effort he did see plenty of humans being exploited at the Empire's expense.

"I don't know if that was the alcohol or you talking but I understand." the alien's reply caught Aaron off guard

"You do?"

"Yes, it isn't easy to adjust right away to a new life. I've been there myself when the Empire was formed."

A frown started forming on Aaron's face "What do you know about adapting... You're just another inquisitor that orders people around..."

"I wasn't an inquisitor all of my life you know. I once was a guard at the jedi temple back on Coruscant. I was born into that life, made to believe everything they told us but then the clone wars started and I started seeing through the cracks what the jedi really were. I was punished for what I discovered but then order 66 happened and the rest is history."

While the inquisitor held his monologue about his early life Aaron listened closely. _So the jedi aren't the saints that they're made to be..._ he thought to himself.

"So, what's the first thing on the to-do list?" Aaron asked after the inquisitor finished

"For you? Return to your quarters and sleep."

"What? but the moff said that I am to remain at your side."

"And now I'm ordering you to go have some rest. You could use it and besides, you're very much still drunk and I can't have that in the interrogation room."

Aaron nodded "Very well, I shall take my leave." he said turning from the alien and walking in the opposite direction. While it did surprise him that the alien had been nice enough to give him some time to get some rest he didn't count on it that things would get better in the coming days. If there was anything he knew about inquisitors it was that they would never show any sign of kindness towards any others. The Grand inquisitor giving him some free time only meant that in the coming days he would be subjected to some very hard tasks.

The trip back to his quarters was had been rather long and it allowed Aaron to become more sober, although all it did was make him more weary and tired. The moment he entered his room he immediately got to stripping his armour and jump into his bed. Even if he did crave sleep his mind still ran wild with thoughts about today. _Well... Today was sure something... I only hope that what I have in mind will pay out, otherwise it'll be my head that will roll and not the inquisitor's... Now I gotta wait for those rebels to make their move... and definitely gotta get more of that alcohol..._

* * *

Author's note: Well here's the first part of the 7th chapter.

Made it a 2 part chapter because I've been rather lazy with writing and wanted to post anything. Don't expect the second part anytime soon as I haven't even started it.

Now that I got that out of the way I gotta say Happy new year to everyone reading this and lets hope for a 2020 with less controversies. 2019 was wild even for me.

I don't even wanna talk about the rise of skywalker as that movie was just bad... Really bad...

**Spoiler alert for those that haven't watched it**

The only part I liked about it is that Chewie finally got a medal... after 3 decades...

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**"Rebel Resolve"**

**Part 2**

"I believe that is enough inquisitor." Aaron said to the Grand inquisitor

The alien ignored Aaron's remark and continued electrocuting the jedi with the torture device installed in the room. He continued doing so for a couple more seconds before finally relenting. He deactivated the device and turned to Aaron with a annoyed expression.

"It'll be enough when I deem it enough, is that understood? I'm in charge here, not you." the alien replied back in an arrogant manner

Aaron was thankful that he was wearing his helmet at that moment, for the scorn and hate he felt for the alien at that exact moment couldn't be described in words. The day had started pretty standard, being woken up very early and made to do various tasks around the ship with the inquisitor and after that they went immediately to continue the interrogation of the jedi. Two hours he spent watching that abominable xeno torture the captive while asking very few questions. It felt as if he himself was part of the torture by being forced to assist an alien in the torture of a fellow human being, even if that human was a sorcerer. Aaron felt disgusted by both the xeno and himself for allowing such an act to continue _If those rebels won't do something anytime soon I'll end up killing him myself._ He grimly thought to himself as he continued to watch as the alien went back to work.

On a lighter note, Kanan further earned more respect from Aaron as he continued to endure the punishment while also not giving in. Admirable yet foolish because none could stand the punishment forever. Aaron knew this as much as any stormtroopers of the Imperium. The grueling training each candidate went through were designed specifically to break their characters and make it more easy to mold them into killing machines.

For the next half an hour he spent watching in silence as the Grand inquisitor tortured the jedi without asking any questions. He eventually stopped and went to stand next to the jedi

"Now, Kanan, will you tell me where your rebel friends are hiding or do I have to continue to inflict pain upon you?"

"No... I already told you I won't speak..." the jedi replied taking some effort to spell each word

"Well see about that."

And so the inquisitor resumed the torture. While watching from the background Aaron slowly raised his lasgun and pointed it at the alien's head. Aaron knew that he couldn't be sensed in the force so the inquisitor couldn't feel his motion, only if he could hear or see the act which Aaron took caution in it. He had done this four time's today while no one was watching and it made him feel as if he could kill the alien without any confrontation but he knew that if he pulled the trigger the alien would simply dodge or deflect the shot with his lightsaber then cut him down. _Alas, a man can only dream... _He thought to himself lowering the gun.

Hours went by as Aaron silently watched as the jedi was tortured both physically and mentally while mentally cursing himself for not being able to do his duty to the Emperor and gun down the abominable xeno. Eventually the alien stopped the device again and went by the jedi again.

"I do have to say that I admire your resilience Kanan. Admirable yet foolish, eventually you will break and you'll tell me everything I want to know." he told the jedi. Kanan just glared back at the alien refusing to speak.

"Tell me something Kanan, what do you know of the other rebels, respectively the one that goes by the name 'Fulcrum'." the alien continued. That name caught Aaron's curiosity as he heard that name only once before, during a meeting between him, agent Kallus and the Grand inquisitor. From what he understood Fulcrum was a rebel that would often give the rebels valuable information.

Kanan took a few seconds to collect his thoughts before replying "I know nothing of a larger rebellion and even if I did, I'd rather give my life than to tell you."

"How'd you wish that were true, but it isn't." the inquisitor replied "I do not believe your little group could get hold of so much information regarding the many supply convoys and small projects you've destroyed so far. Someone must've supplied the information, and that someone is most likely Fulcrum and I want to know everything about this individual."

"I don't know anything about him, no one does." Kanan replied

"We shall see." the inquisitor said before resuming the torture. Thankfully it didn't last long before the Grand Moff and Agent Kallus decided to drop by unexpected. The inquisitor deactivated the torture device and went to meet them while Aaron saluted from where he stood.

"Governor Tarkin, I gather you have come to oversee the interrogation?" the inquisitor asked

"Yes, and to ask for its progression, have you made any headway inquisitor?" The moff asked

"Very little I'm afraid. The jedi has proven to be quite resilient to our methods." At that reply a frown appeared on the moff's face

"Perhaps if we were to change-" Kallus began but was immediately cut off by the moff

"No, you won't try any other approach. You two already wasted enough of my time as it is." The moff replied in a stern tone before turning to look at Aaron who had remained silent for the duration of the conversation. Seeing that he became the moffs next target he quickly replied

"Sorry sir, I'm a soldier, not an interrogator."

"As it seems." the moff replied before turning to look at the inquisitor "I believe I'll have to resort to more drastic measures. Tomorrow we'll depart for Mustafar system. I'm done waiting around for you." he continued in the same stern tone before he turned and left alongside Kallus.

As Aaron watched the moff leave a single thought crossed his mind _My plan is gonna be a total bust unless the rebs' try something... _he thought to himself. The inquisitor looked inbetween angry and disappointed, obviously not liking the idea of releasing his hold on the jedi to someone else. Though he didn't knew who would be interrogating the jedi if they were to reach the Mustafar system but he had a vague idea it was the leader of the inquisitorius. From the small information he learned from the second sister regarding this organisation he knew that the grand inquisitor wasn't the true leader but rather someone else he didn't knew.

"I guess that's that." Aaron broke the silence that fell upon the room

The inquisitor turned to look at him and replied "Indeed it is."

"Aren't you disappointed the moff's putting someone else in charge?" Aaron asked

"A little but I can't deny Governor Tarkin's decision. Lord Vader's methods always brought results."

"So that's the guy in charge of the inquisitors?" Aaron asked

"That 'guy' is the second most powerful sith lord in the galaxy, second only to emperor Palpatine. But yes, he is my leader as much as he is your's considering you're working for the inquisitorius."

"Actually I consider making an appeal to transfer to the security bureau. I'm starting to lose my patience working with inquisitors." Aaron replied

"You know how to make appeals?" the inquisitor replied with a smug tone

Underneath his helmet a frown adorned Aaron's face "The Imperium isn't as primitive as you'd think xeno."

"Your blatant racism is lost on me agent, as for your desire to transfer I gotta ask why."

"To put it as simple as you alien brain can understand, I do not approve of any method used by Imperial inquisitors and frankly working for the only human inquisitor in the galaxy hasn't been the most pleasant experience."

"Yes, the second sisters methods tend to go towards the extreme when compared to others, mostly because of her quest of redemption." the inquisitor replied in a sarcastic tone

"Still don't know what the whole thing is about."

"She didn't tell you?"

"The only things she ever tells me are orders and insults."

The inquisitor chuckled at the reply "Its a long story but if you wish I could tell you."

"Might as well, it can kill some time before we depart for Mustafar." _Or until the rebels strike." _Aaron thought to himself "What about the jedi." he added pointing with his lasgun at Kanan who had fallen unconscious

"Let him rest for now, I intent to further question him until we reach our destination. Now, for the story, it all began a decade ago when the Empire found the location of a holocron with a list containing the next generation of force sensitives in the galaxy. At the time it was the most important project of the Empire and she failed spectacularly."

"That's a great way to start a story."

"Silence, I'm speaking. She alongside the ninth sister were tasked with retrieving the holocron and to hunt down a jedi padawan and his group of rebels that was constantly harassing Imperial forces around the Kashyyyk system. The ninth sister died on Kashyyyk while dueling the jedi leaving only the second to carry on. Eventually she succeeded in securing the holocron and transported it to our fortress on Nur."

"Soo, what happened?"

"The rebel group launched an infiltration operation or something like that, the reports weren't very clear. They managed to infiltrate the fortress and fought their way towards her. She lost to a padawan and he took the holocron... Thankfully lord Vader was present to salvage the situation, although it all came apart in the end. The rebels got away with the holocron and the fortress was in shambles. Don't know why lord Vader didn't outright execute her for her failure but the next time we saw her, both of her arms were missing from elbow down."

"Wow, I genuinely don't care about the last part... So what happened with the rebels after, did the Empire get the holocron back?"

"Unfortunately no, the rebels were spotted several times after assisting wookie rebels in the forests of Kashyyyk but then simply vanished, no doubt going into hiding."

"I see, so this is why shes disgraced... she failed to secure the next generation of sorcerers." Aaron said taking some pleasure knowing that there wouldn't be more inquisitor sorcerers running around... But then again, that holocron most likely still remains in the hands of the jedi.

"She should've died back then... Don't know why she still draws breath." the inquisitor sneered.

"I disagree, while she did fail and was punished accordingly, she is still useful to the Empire."

"We all have our own opinions..."

A silence fell upon the room as the conversation died giving Aaron some time to reflect upon what he learned. It had been a decade since the jedi acquired the list of possible sorcerers... _By now they could of trained all of them..._ Aaron thought to himself before realising he was worrying with things that he shouldn't really care about._ After all, I'll just transfer to the security bureau and most likely be assigned to some backwater world I'll spend the rest of my life on..._

After about half an hour of silence the inquisitor's features started to change as if he could feel something.

"I have been summoned." he muttered to himself

"So what, you astropath as well?" Aaron asked

"Not really, Lord Vader's powers are of such that when he wished to summon someone he can simply do it through the force, anyway I must leave." the inquisitor replied before leaving in a hurry.

_No doubt being late would result in some bad things happening, not that I care anyway. _Aaron thought to himself as he watched the inquisitors silhouette disappear from the cell. He waited a couple more minutes to make sure he was alone before he went next to the jedi.

"Wake up." he ordered

Kanan stirred slightly before groggily opened his eyes. "What? I already said I won't tell you anything." he said

"I'm not interested in your rebel group. Just the jedi in general." Aaron replied

"What, don't they teach you about these things?"

"Not really, everything I know about jedi and sith came from whatever rumors or conspiracies I came across on the extranet."

"Huh... even if I could tell you, why should I?" Now that was a good question, why should he. After all Kanan was a prisoner that was being questioned so why should he say anything.

"You don't need to tell me anything important, just what the big difference is between the jedi and sith, your history and whatnot."

"Tell you what, You answer some of my questions and I answer yours." Kanan replied

"Fine, no problem."

"What are you?"

"Human."

"Not the species, I already deduced that you're human from your built and manners. What I want to know is why you cannot be sensed in the force."

"Ahh well, the place I come from doesn't have the force hence I cannot be sensed."

"And where is this place to be exact?"

"The closest galaxy to your's, don't know what you people call it and neither do I know what we call it..." Aaron said muttering the last part to himself

"You wish me to believe that? That one day you decided to just jump between galaxies and join the Empire?"

"My coming here wasn't voluntary jedi!" Aaron snarled at the bound man. It seemed that Kanan hit a nerve "The only reason I'm here is chance... Out of all the people that partook in that operation back home I was the only one to survive..."

"What kind of operation?"

"We were mining in search of tech and the techpriests found a cache. The ruins defensive systems were still online and an armada of machines attacked us. In the fighting the installation was damaged and some of us ended up being transported to Naboo... I was the only survivor."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Kanan sounded genuine

"Don't be, I didn't knew most of the men I fought alongside, although my former squad is the one I still mourn."

A moment of silence was passed between the two to honour the dead before Kanan spoke up again "So if you're from another galaxy, how is life out there?"

Aaron took a moment to consider his response. He didn't want to picture it as a dark and unforgiving place, although it was just that. He decided that giving a honest response was the best.

"Comparable to the Empire? Really bad. Life is sometimes cheaper than guns in some instances and there's technically no technological advancements. Millions die almost everyday across the galaxy to war, diseases and famine. Overall, its home." Aaron gave the most honest response he could give

Kanan's face turned from shocked to outright disturbed by what he heard "Why don't you people do something about it?"

"I'm a soldier Kanan, I don't have the answers to these kind of problems." Aaron replied before taking a deep breath "That's enough questions from you, time to answer my own."

"Hold on one more question."

Aaron groaned "What?"

"Whats your name?"

"Krask, now can you please answer my questions?"

"Fine but remember, nothing else but jedi questions, you deviate and this conversation ends."

"Very well, Why did you betray the Empire?"

A frown adorned Kanan's face "We didn't betray but rather we were betrayed by the Emperor."

"I heard about that from another jedi some time ago. How did it happen?" Aaron asked

"There are other jedi out there?" Kanan completely ignore his question and jumped straight to the jedi

"There was, at least. The second sister killed her when we destroyed a rebel cell a while back."

"Second sister?" Kanan asked

"Another inquisitor."

"There are more of them?"

"Yes, the Grand inquisitor can't be grand if there weren't any others, aren't I right?"

"Yea, you are... More the reason for us to keep an eye out."

"What makes you think you'll escape?" Aaron asked. Even if he gave the rebels the location of their friend there was a small chance they still wouldn't do anything.

"I trust in my friends capabilities. They'll try something no doubt." Kanan replied

"Whatever we're derailing from topic. How and why did the jedi get betrayed?"

"It happened at the end of the Clone Wars when the clones, those we fought and bled for years turned their weapons on us without a doubt. Emperor Palpatine was behind all of it, he orchestrated everything so that he could gain the power to rule the galaxy."

"The man's a genius, gotta give him that."

"Don't you give a single care in the world for the people that died?" Kanan asked

Aaron in return snorted "Sorry, I've just become apathetic to the whole death thing. Seeing countless people die over the years tends to do that to you."

"You're just like them..."

"I never implied to be any different Kanan. It all depends on your point of view."

"Am I interrupting something?" A familiar voice came from the doorway

Aaron turned and saw the inquisitor standing there with a smirk on his face "And you proclaimed you were no interrogator huh?" he asked

"Don't worry inquisitor, he didn't reveal anything of worth." Aaron replied

"Then tell me, what were you two discussing?"

"The jedi in particular, how their organisation worked and whatnot."

"Why do you bother with things that do not matter anymore? And besides, they only feed you lies to make you more sympathetic to them." the inquisitor replied coming inside the room.

"All I said were truths inquisitor..." Kanan replied in a dark tone

"As if I care. I see you've regained your strength jedi. Perhaps another session is in order." The inquisitor said coming next to the jedi. Meanwhile Aaron returned to his old overseeing the two. He almost took pity in the jedi as the inquisitor activated the torture device although he couldn't do anything about it. He relegated himself to waiting and hoping the rebels would actually do something while also doing his pointing his lasgun at the inquisitor's back thing. Although with each passing hour he started to believe he gave them the information for nothing... up until night came.

* * *

It happened extremely fast. One moment the _Sovereign _was exiting Lothal's atmosphere, the next a painted TIE fighter docked on it and unleashed a devastating EMP bomb that knocked out most of the crew stationed and completely disabled the ships main power, forcing the crew to switch to auxiliary. Up on the bridge Grand Moff Tarkin was barking out orders to the crew while they worked wordlessly.

"Switch to auxiliary power and contact the Imperial complex in the capital. We need reinforcements!" he ordered in a stern tone

"Right away sir!" one of the crewman's replied

"Those rebels think they can do their little game? We shall see about that." Tarkin muttered to himself as he oversaw the crew work around him

"Sir! there's an unidentified freighter docking on one of the airlocks!"

"So they have arrived."

* * *

Down in the interrogation room the inquisitor was chuckling "They're here, so predictable."

_They're finally here... Finally... _ Aaron thought to himself considering what would happen next. When the rebels would come down he would accidentally commit friendly fire and wound him enough so that the rebels could finish him off... wait a second.

"Where are you going?" Aaron asked the Grand inquisitor

The alien had turned to leave but made it only to the door's frames when Aaron spoke "It doesn't concern you." he replied not even looking back

"It does concern me, we're supposed to guard the jedi." Aaron said tightening his hold on his lasgun. He couldn't risk it, not when the moment was so close.

"No we're not, we're supposed to transport the jedi to Mustafar, and I intent to do my duty." the inquisitor replied turning to look back at the man "I order you to remain here and guard the jedi. I'll deal with those rebels myself."

Aaron unconsciously set his lasgun to the max setting and waited for the moment the alien turned his back again. This was the moment, consequences be damned. "As you command." he replied

The alien nodded once and turned to leave. In that moment Aaron raised his lasgun but was cutoff by the inquisitor.

"Do you truly think I haven't noticed how you kept raising your weapon at me during this day? All 12 times you've raised your gun I've noticed. You truly think I'll let th-" He didn't manage to finish his sentence as a beam of red light struck the back of his neck. It was a clean shot, almost penetrating through but it got the job done. The inquisitor's corpse fell down the stairs in a heap. Thankfully there wasn't any blood as the weapon burned rather than cut.

"WOAH WHAT THE HELL!" Kanan finally spoke after hours of torture "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" he demanded

Aaron didn't reply, instead he kept his focus on the alien corpse before him. His silence soon gave to laughter, a rather demented one at that.

"Okay! You're officially considered crazy!" Kanan said

After about five minutes of continued laughter Aaron finally composed himself and turned to look at the jedi "You have no idea how much I overestimated that xeno!" he shouted with glee. Kanan on the other half looked on with a disturbed visage

"Seriously! Why did you shoot you're own ally?!" He asked

"Why I did it isn't important, whats important is how the frak am I gonna make this look plausible so that I'm not held responsible..." Aaron replied pacing around the room

"Oh yea, shoot your own ally and then expect to not be held responsible, Genius! Good one!" Kanan said sarcastically

"Just shut up and let me think! Besides I didn't do anything wrong by the Imperium's laws. I actually did my duty to the Emperor!" Aaron replied

"I didn't know Palpatine turned into a genocidal xenophobe overnight!" Kanan's sarcastic remarks were starting to irk Aaron

"Not the false one! The true God of mankind!"

"What?!"

"Doesn't matter let me think!" Aaron took in every possibility into account but nothing would work out. Time was running shot but thankfully comm's went out when the EMP detonated so no one on the bridge could contact them. Finally settling on the best case scenario that came to mind he quickly made his way to the inquisitors corpse and shot him in the right arm

"Seriously Krask! First you shoot him in the back of the neck and then the right arm?! Its like you want to be suspected!"

"SHUT UP!" Aaron snarled back at the jedi. his constant rambling was starting to seriously annoy him.

Aaron then shot twice in different directions in the room before setting his lasgun to the lowest power setting and shooting himself in the left thigh. He cried out in pain as the pain coursed throughout his left leg and waist.

"Frakkin' hell... forgot how powerful these things were even on the lowest setting..." he groaned to himself. Thankfully Kanan remained silent this time as he watched with the same disturbed expression.

Aaron then went to the Inquisitor's body and dragged him closer to the left wall. He picked the jedi's lightsaber from the corpse's utility belt and examined it. It was the first time he held such a weapon in his arms. It felt incredibly light and even activated it felt like he was holding a small stick. No weight at all.

"Be careful with that, It isn't a toy." Kanan warned

"I know how to handle swords Kanan." Aaron reassured before swiftly decapitating the inquisitor, making sure to cut straight through the gap made by his lasgun.

"OH COME ON!" Kanan cried out and to his disgust Aaron was chuckling "This is just wrong..." He muttered to himself

Aaron then came next to the torture chair and addressed the jedi "Alright Kanan, this is how things went. You're apprentice came here, used his powers to throw me into the inquisitor, of course that pissed him off and he threw me and engaged. After I regained my footing I fired a four round burst, the first beam accidentally hit the inquisitor in the right arm, two were deflected and the last deflected into my left thigh. This is all I got for now..."

Kanan remained silent as he processed all the information "Really? You expect them to buy that?" He asked

"Its all I got."

"And if that doesn't work? What then?" Kanan asked

"I'll think of something... Anyway, I think I know how to continue the scenario."

"Well shot! I don't think it can get any more ridiculous than it already is." Kanan's sarcastic remark wasn't appreciated

"You managed to break out o-" he didn't manage to finish as Kanan cut him off

"It just did... First off, even if I want I can't because this chair was designed for force users. It negates my powers."

"Frak... then your apprentice managed to release you during the fight and together you defeated the inquisitor, just be sure to throw me into the far wall when I give you the signal." Aaron said activating the lightsaber and then cut the jedi's restraints

Kanan fell to his knees before slowly rising to his feet. It looked like he was having trouble standing up.

"You good?" Aaron asked

"Give me a moment." He took a deep breath before finally relaxed his body "Seriously, why are you doing this?" He added

"Lets just say I have my own agenda. Don't expect any help from here on out" Aaron replied offering the jedi his lightsaber

"Not that we needed it." Kanan replied in a stern voice grabbing his weapon. For a moment the thought of the jedi just activating his weapon and stabbing him crossed Aaron's mind bug it quickly subsided when the jedi attached it to his belt.

"You wanna do it now?" Kanan asked

"Not now, lets wait for your apprentice."

A couple of seconds passed before Kanan chuckled lightly "Something funny?" Aaron asked

"You truly overestimate everyone, Ezra Isn't really capable of even holding a bowl with the force as it is and yet you picture him holding his own against the inquisitor."

"Well no shit, he held his own against me back on the comm's array, even managed to strangle me through your force."

"Ezra did what?" Kanan's tone turned to serious.

"Yea, he really was angry back then."

"This isn't good." kanan muttered to himself "I can't let him fall to the dark side..."

"Whatever." A couple of minutes passed and Aaron started hearing distant footsteps. Light ones too, no doubt the child had arrived "Alright, times up." Aaron said positioning himself by the door

"You sure of this?" Kanan asked

Aaron simply nodded and waited for the impact. Kanan raised both of his hands and threw Aaron out of the room into the far wall on the corridor. He impacted with the wall hard enough that there was an audible 'crack'. He didn't cry out as he couldn't really feel his body. He fell on his side perfectly viewing the kid that was standing some distance away with a shocked expression. Ezra quickly changed his expression from shocked to determined and ran past Aaron into the interrogation room. There was an audible gasp as the kid took in everything

"Kanan!" he cried out. By now it was hard to hear and Aaron knew he had a concussion and his chest was hurting, no doubt some ribs were broken.

"Don't look Ezra." Kanan's voice rang into Aaron's ears

"I'm sorry we couldn't get to you in time Kanan. If it weren't for someone on the inside we wouldn't of found you."

"Don't be sorry kid, lets just go home."

The last thing Aaron saw before darkness overtook him was the sight of Kanan and his apprentice walking down the same corridor. Kanan was looking back with a regretful expression.

* * *

_The pain wasn't worth it... _were the first things that crossed Aaron's mind when he finally woke up. He stirred in what he recognised to be the medical wing of the Imperial Complex on Lothal. _That's promising _he thought to himself. He wasn't in the brig and wasn't restrained. Those were good indicators that he would live. His chest still hurt a little although he expected it since Kanan had flung him with some considerate force into that wall.

As he turned to look around on he found that only he alongside Minister Tua were in the room. All the other beds were empty and no medical droids present. There was a relieved expression on her face when she saw him wake up.

"Oh thank goodness, I thought you'd never make it." she said with a smile

"What happened?"

"The rebels escaped." she said with a harsh tone "They managed to damage the _Sovereign'_s engines and it was forced to make an emergency landing on the fields outside the capital. Governor Tarkin intents to take her back to Kuat shipyards for actual repairs."

"I see." Aaron replied "Where's the inquisitor?" he asked playing the ignorant facade

"You don't know?" The minister asked "He's dead."

"Oh, I got knocked out early in the fight so he was still alive." Aaron replied

"He got decapitated by the jedi. They also found a burn mark on his right arm when they examined the body, know anything about that?"

"He got in the way and I accidentally shot him. Not that it matters anyway."

"But it does matter. It could've meant his death." she replied

"He was fighting fine and unimpeded when I was knocked out so I didn't contribute to his demise." Aaron said with a stern tone

"I still need you to go into detail with how things went last night. It was chaos on that ship last night for goodness sake. More than half the ships crew were knocked out instantly after that EMP discharge and the reinforcements I sent were not enough to stop the rebels so tell me how it all went down."

"Very well." Aaron went on to describe how his scenario played out, changing some minor things and making sure it sounds as plausible as possible. It worked as the minister nodded along while writing on her datapad.

"So how are things on the leadership?" Aaron asked after he finished his made up story

"Chaos... Governor Tarkin is mad with how the rebels damaged his ship... and now that creepy woman just appeared out of nowhere and started demanding more and more patrols and checkpoints." As if on cue the exit door opened revealing the last person Aaron wanted to see today. The second sister slowly made her way towards them without saying a word.

She finally spoke when she reached them "Minister Tua, I see that my assistant has finally woke up. Why haven't I been notified earlier?" she demanded

"Relax, I just woke up." Aaron replied

"I see, I gather you have told the minister of what went down on the _Sovereign_?" she asked

Aaron simply nodded "Excelent." she said before turning to the minister "Take the report to my office, I'll view it later."

The minister nodded and quickly left the room, no doubt to get as much space inbetween her and the inquisitor. The inquisitor then turned to look at Aaron "I see that my trust hasn't been totally misplaced." she said

Aaron quickly looked around to see if there were any cameras. Satisfied that there weren't any he replied "I've done my job, although it wasn't worth it."

"Tell me how it went. Every detail." she demanded

"Its in the datapad." Aaron replied keeping up his ignorant facede

"Oh please, as if I'd buy some second hand lie. Tell me how it truly went." she demanded one more time

"I'm telling the truth, Its in the datapad."

"I don't buy that two untrained padawans managed to take down the grand inquisitor all alone. Tell me how it truly went down." She demanded one last time

Sighing Aaron told her, going into detail with how things progressed "Pathetic... he couldn't even defend himself from a laser..." she grumbled before taking on a more formal tone "Well, this was a total unexpected turn of events. I expected you to sabotage whatever assignments the grand inquisitor partook, not outright assassinate him."

"It was in the heat of the moment..." Aaron replied

"All I can tell you is that while your madeup story is plausible considering the rebels track record, I don't fail to see the ridiculous side of it. There will be individuals in the Empire who will question your story and if they find the truth, I don't want to be found responsible, is that understood?" the inquisitor said in a stern tone

"Let's just hope they won't find out."

"The only one who will hope will be you. I won't take any credit in it, all I did was accept the grand inquisitor's request to transfer my assistant to him. It was you who committed the crime."

"A little harsh aren't you."

"This is the only chance for redemption... The eyes of the Empire are upon me, I can't fail now." she replied

"Well then, lets get to work."

"Hold on there, you're cleared to leave tomorrow, for now sit tight." she replied before turning to leave. She stopped midway to the door and turned back "Oh I almost forgot, I've taken liberty to transfer two troopers that you've familiarized yourself with under your command so from now on you'll be able to operate better.

_Holt and Red... just what I needed. A hotshot rookie who doesn't wanna shut up and a sergeant that...that... I guess Holt's alright. _ Aaron thought to himself "understood." he replied back

"Prepare yourself, we have some rebels to kill." The inquisitor said before she turned left with another word

Aaron laid back in his chair and sighed. _Man I'm on thin ice... May the Emperor guide my path and protect my soul..._

* * *

Author's note: Here we go my faithful readers

5k views bois, I'm genuinely happy for the positive feedback this story receives. At first I felt like no one would like it as it follows the same trope as lone guy gets dropped into different setting but I aim for something different here. No spoilers though.

I gotta say I'm disappointed in myself for not making chapter 7 and 8 a full part but oh well, laziness goes a long way.

Now, to answer an interesting question that I haven't really figured out myself.

1nt3rD1ct0r, regarding the whole holonet and extranet thingy. Every piece of lore regarding the holonet I've come across on the internet regarded it as nothing but television with how the Republic and the Empire broadcast their news/propaganda. I didn't come across any kind of information that regarded it as an internet type platform. I still haven't decided if I want to leave it as the extranet or merge the two and leave it with the canonical name.

I'd like to know what you guys think, should I leave it as it is or change it all to holonet.

Star Wars belongs to Disney and Warhammer 40K belongs to Games Workshop, all rights reserved


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**"Of War Stories and Betrayal"**

Aaron took another sip of his recaff and laid back into his chair. It had been an hour since he was released from the infirmary and no one bothered to give him any assignments. What with the inquisitor and agent Kallus being in a closed door meeting with the Grand Moff and the minister not giving a sign of life, most likely being drowned under the amount of administrative work the inquisitor was putting on her. Seeing that he had some time for himself he decided to relax with a nice cup of recaff, or tea as these people called it in the messhall.

"Ahh not too shabby." He muttered to himself after he took a sip from his recaff

"Ahem..." A voice called from behind

Aaron turned to look at two stormtroopers standing behind him, a sergeant and a normal trooper "Can I help you?" he asked

The senior stormtrooper groaned "I can't believe you already forgot us." Holt said

"Ohh, sorry guys, its just that you all look the same."

"I know... May we?" Holt asked looking at the spare seats around the table

"Go ahead."

They seated themselves and took off their helmets. Red was quick to begin "I believe you owe us a story."

"Beg your pardon?" Aaron asked. He didn't remember being indebted to anyone

"On the last night that you spent on the Avalon you promised to tell one of your war stories to the crew." Holt clarified

"Ooh that, well I don't see any of the crew and I sincerely don't feel like telling any story right now. All I wanna do is sit back and enjoy my recaff until the inquisitor starts bossing us around." Aaron replied sarcastically laying further into his chair

"That's just unfair man..." Red muttered

"Nothing in life is fair, get used to it." Aaron replied

"Come on Krask, don't be so hard on the kid. He's been worked up to hear what story you'd tell from the day you left, and quite frankly I too." Holt said

Aaron sighed before replying "You'll have to do better than that to get me to talk buddy."

"I could pay you." Red said

"No, I'm not telling stories for money." Aaron replied

"Then what do you want?"

"Nothing." Both troopers were visibly annoyed by Aaron and he took pleasure knowing it. Chuckling he continued "Tell you what, I'll go get another cup of recaff and then I'll consider your demand." he said rising from his seat

"Yea!" Red almost shouted. Several other troopers turned to look at him with questioning looks before returning to whatever they were doing

As he was filling his cup Aaron was considering what story he should tell. In truth he did want to repay his debt, considering that Holt was no liar but he wasn't prepared to tell any tale... _Might as well tell them my first assignment... No one can forget their first._ he grimly thought to himself. It wasn't a tale that he held dear to his heart but it was the one that marked him for the rest of his life.

He went back to their table, seated himself and smugly said "So I've come to a decision..."

"What is it?" Red asked hopefully

"That I'll entertain you guys."

"Oh yea, how much I've waited for this!" Red said with a childish glee.

_How old is he again? 17? 18? _Aaron thought to himself. He did see a part of his younger self in the young man. The part that was always impulsive, to always do something or listen to something. It had its uses but in the end it would do more damage to the trooper than it was worth. Much like it cost Aaron during his earlier years.

"Alright, I'm gonna tell you the story of my first assignmee-"

"Oh come on, first assignments are always boring." Red cut in

"Shut up, this isn't like you'd think." Aaron replied "So how I was saying, my first assignment. After my squad and I graduated from schola we were assigned to the freshly formed 680th Cadian and sent straight to the world of Armaggedon."

"Sounds ominous." Holt remarked

"You have no idea... It was during the second war for that planet and it was the biggest war the Imperium was facing at the time. We were part of the reinforcement to relieve the beleaguered forces on the planet and arrived in the year 942 of the 41st Millennium."

"Damn... almost 42 thousand years of history..." Red muttered

"Yea, anyway we were fighting against the Orks of WAAAGH Ghazghkull." Aaron said shouting the last bit. More head turned to look at their table. Most were questioning and confused while those closer to them were more curious.

"Why did you scream?" Holt asked confused

"Its the way the Orks say it." Aaron replied shrugging before continuing "We got deployed in the Balboa Mountains to the east of hive Helsreach... Is there a problem if you don't know the exact locations?" he asked

"Its no problem, continue." Red reassured.

Aaron nodded and observed that several troopers were now paying attention to his story "We were deployed to destroy two munitions depots the Orks had set up to supply their troops and to destroy the artillery lines they set up shelling the crap out of the city. The first depot was a walk in the park. We managed to rig their munitions undetected and retreated to a safe distance and watched the camp go boom. The second wasn't so easy... A fraking Trukk carrying some Orks going to resupply spotted us making our way towards the camp and alerted the Orks there... It was the first time I fought against the Greenskins up close and that experience taught me two things... One that no matter how much training and litanies you go through, it never prepares you for your first fight. And two, that the Uplifting primer is complete groxshit..."

"You lost me at the Uplifting primer. What is it?" Holt asked

"Its a book that supposedly teaches the soldiers of the Imperium all they need to know about their equipment and their enemies. Its total propaganda and even if there **are** some useful entries in it, it mostly tells false information just to keep the morale up... can't believe I believed all of it for the whole duration of schola..."

"You're kinda deviating from your story." A random trooper spoke. Aaron turned and saw that he had gathered quite the crowd that were listening to his story.

"Right, we did manage to destroy the second depot but not without casualties. Around 200 guardsmen out of the 1000 sent there were killed, regardless of our losses we pressed on. Thankfully the rest of the operation went smoothly as the artillery crews mostly consisted of the occasional Ork mekboyz and their gretchin slaves."

"Slaves?" Holt asked

"Yes, but don't let that fool you. Gretchins are much like Orks, filthy monstrosities that deserve nothing but gruesome death. Only difference is that they're smaller and more cunning. Lost quite a few friends to gretchins sneaking up on us. After we dealt with the crews and destroyed the cannons we expected to join in the defense of the hive. We were wrong. We were recalled out east to join an Imperial army amassing to retake hive Tartarus."

"Another name that's ominous"

"Moreso than the last. Tartarus fell early in the war and was being used by the Orks as a staging area to attack and resupply. Along the way we joined a convoy on their way to the meeting area. It was during this trip that I learned that this army wasn't a regular one, but rather it was led by the famous Space Marines themselves. The legendary Commander Dante of the Blood Angels was amassing troops to retake the city. Rumor was that the leader of the Orks, Ghazghkull Thraka was touring the city, inspecting his boyz. We met with the rest of the force around the Hemlock. It was here that we ran in the first true defense as the Orks dug in on both sides of the river. While it took us one night to clear the Balboa mountains here it took us two weeks to break through their defenses and that was only because of the assistance of the space marines. Without them it would of taken months to dislodge the orks and break through."

"How many Orks did you kill?" one of the random troopers asked

"I stopped caring when the number went over the amount of fingers I have." A couple of chuckles were heard from the crowd. By now most of the people in the room were seated around him listening to his story. Aaron looked around his spectators and to his surprise the inquisitor was standing in the back.

"Inquisitor?" Aaron asked

Every trooper turned to look at the woman. A silence quickly fell in the room as the troopers were eyeing the woman. Aaron could feel the tension around the troopers and clearly see the visible hope that she wouldn't just drag him off to give him an assignment.

"Do you have orders for me?" he broke the silence after a couple of seconds

"Yes I do but they can wait a little, do continue." she replied

"Uh huh, anyway we broke through-" Aaron began but was cut off almost immediately by the inquisitor

"Are you not gonna tell them how you almost drowned yourself in the river?" she asked smugly. Aaron on the other hand was raking his brain trying to remember what she was talking about and then he did.

"Ohh... That..." he said a little embarrassed

"You gotta tell us that one man." Holt began with a smile

Aaron sighed and began "We were protecting a munitions convoy alongside a squad of Salamanders on the upper reaches of the river where Ork activity was supposed to be minimal. Even if we were going to run into Orks they should've attacked frontally without cohesion. Instead we were caught in a masterfully crafted ambush. Ork Kommandoz timed it perfectly as the convoy was passing along a narrow path right by the riverbank. Their coordination was surreal by their standards as they blew the first and last vehicles effectively trapping us in. Next thing we knew a Ork mob was upon us with slugga and shoota boyz charging frontally while tank bustaz and kommandoz were going after our support vehicles. I was around in the back of the convoy but that didn't mean shit as the volume of boyz was too large. Little by little we were pushed into the river with little to no cover. Now you people know my lasgun, back then and almost all the times back in the Imperium I used a hellgun which is a more powerful version of the lasgun. Its magazines aren't your conventional chargers you strap in but rather large backpack powerpacks to stop the need to reload and hold much more ammunition. Combine the weight of that pack with that of your armour, mix in some strong currents and you'll sink in faster than you'd realize."

Aaron looked at the inquisitor only to find her snickering "Something funny?" he asked annoyed

"Just remembered the footage of you squirming underwater trying to get rid of your pack."

"Wait, you saw the footage from my dataslate. You know this story already." Aaron replied accusingly

"Not all of it, I skimmed through random moments during your early years until I learned everything I needed about you but still, I know the most important part of this war for you." she replied smugly

Aaron's face dropped "You do?" he asked

"Yes, but we've not reached it yet so please, continue."

"Fine, the only reason I survived was because a Salamander pulled me out just in time. Despite their terrifying black skin and appearance, they're some of the nicest marines there are."

"Whats wrong with being black?" one of the random troopers asked

"Nothing, and I mean no disrespect. There is nothing wrong with the natural brown colour of humans. Its just that the Salamanders chapter and the people of Nocturne have developed a complexity that turns their skin completely pitch black and their eyes completely red giving them a more terrifying appearance." Aaron elaborated

"Ohh that explains it, rather unnatural." Red said

"Anyway back to the story, after we breached the Ork lines we continued on our way towards Tartarus occasionally coming across scattered Ork outposts and mobs. With the Marines to support us it was relatively easy to fight our way to the hive's outskirts. That's when the legendary Commander enacted his plan. Taking all of the marines present in orbit and performing a mass drop pod operation inside the city. As we watched the rain of steel only one thought crossed our minds 'The Orks are in a world of pain now'."

His spectators seemed cheered by his story and some even began whispering to themselves what space marines would look like. "The marines got the easy part though. For us guardsmen our job wasn't as simple. We needed to take the outer walls... or what was left of them. The greenskins created lines upon lines of batteries and kill zones that shredded our forces. It was only because of the marines intervention from behind the Orks lines that we managed to break through. The whole rumor about the Ork leader was false but it did pay off the gambit that we took. We secured our way inside the city... Boy were we the next to be in a world of pain."

"What do you mean?" Red asked confused

"The Orks fortified almost every single street and building of the city. We fought like animals and died in droves just to secure passage through streets and alleys..." Aaron's reply silenced everyone in the room as full attention was returned to him

"By then only roughly 100 soldiers remained in our company. Imperial Stormtrooper squads act differently than normal guardsmen. We fight as one, we're what some could call a family. Only with big guns." Aaron said lightly chuckling to himself although his face soon fell into sadness "The squad I grew up with thankfully remained intact. That couldn't be said about all the others, my first commanding officer, Lenna received orders to join a push towards the factory in the western part of the city. Several squads including our's were relegated to scout and reconnaissance duty to gather information about the Ork defenses. Unfortunately during one of those trips my impulsive and reckless demeanor got the better of me. I thought I found a poorly defended Ork munitions cache inside one of the surrounding buildings around the factory. I took my finding up to my superior and after some arguments she accepted that taking out the cache would weaken the orks hold on the factory... Boy did I doom us all..."

"I have a feeling something bad happened." Holt said

"Indeed it did. Lenna commandeered two other guard squads and together we set off at night to destroy the cache. Ork sentries are lousy by default so infiltrating their lines wasn't a hard thing. Things got complicated when we neared the cache as at that moment an Ork armada was passing through the area moving towards the center of the city where the Blood Angels were making their push. A group of nobs which are pretty much the senior commanding orks spotted our group in the rubble and quickly signaled the others. Since we were right in the middle of the ork lines there was little cover available to us so we made a mad dash to the closest building. Of course inside we found more orks and some very brutal melee combat ensued. Caught inbetween the greenskins we were forced to do our last stand but unfortunately skill means nothing if your enemy numbers in the hundreds up close."

"How did you survive that?" Holt asked

"Through the divine intervention of the Blood Angels. Two tactical squads were operating in the area without anyone's knowledge, no doubt to destroy the ork armada. When we were pinned they saw the opportunity and acted, quickly blowing up the munitions cache and destroying a a good chunk of the ork force. Immediately after they let loose their bolters into the unsuspecting orks decimating them."

"Sounds like you got lucky." Red remarked

"Quite the contrary, it was the single most reckless act I've done up until then and cost me the lives of my closest friends and family... My punishment was rather fitting I suppose..." Aaron replied sadly

"What? Demotion?" Holt asked

"No... I had to watch my closest friends get butchered and cradle the remains of the woman I loved as she was gurgling the last of her words... couldn't even understand what she was trying to say..."

"Wait... you mean you and Lenna were...?" Red asked

"Yes... we were."

"That's depressing..."

"It is, but its all in the past now. I've gotten over it." He knew he lied and he knew the inquisitor was giving him the most disapproving look under her helmet but he didn't care. As long as he didn't show weakness everything was fine.

"Although I don't like being the guy to point it out Krask, I find your former relation with your commanding officer rather ill thought. Military relationships are forbidden and almost everyone looks down upon them." Holt began

"It might be here but in the Imperium things are different. A guardsmen is expected to serve until his death so relationships and marriages are an occasional sight in the guard."

"But what about the possible children? What happens to them?" Holt replied

"They immediately get conscripted and become 'whiteshields' or conscripts as it is also called."

"So they don't get a choice in that matter." red said

"Not a lot of people in the Imperium get to do what they want. When you're asked to do something you don't say no, you immediately salute and get to work. Hell, even I didn't have a choice. I was only six years old when my parents died and I was plucked and sent straight to schola." Aaron's reply surprised everyone in the room except the inquisitor.

"What do you mean you were only six? You didn't join when you reached the minimum age required?" Red asked looking aghast at the whole concept

"No, and I don't think there's a required age to join the guard."

"That's extreme..."

"Continue your damn story so we can get on with our day Aaron." the inquisitor demanded impatiently

"Very well, although there's not much left to tell, for the remainder of the war I fought for the factory and the city. It was a complete stalemate with the factory proper constantly jumping between our forces and the orks. By the 10th time we recaptured the damn place we simply stopped using sandbags and started piling up corpses as cover. Thankfully the orks were trapped inside the city and slowly but surely they ran out of food and ammunition and were quickly and mercilessly put down."

"Damn..."

"So yea that's the whole story about my first deployment."

"Wait, soo... what happened? Did you guys win or lose?" Red asked looking confused

"We won, but it was a pyrrhic victory as the population of the world was decimated and the infrastructure completely destroyed." Aaron replied rising from his seat. He then turned to move towards the inquisitor. The rest of the troopers began dispersing, going back to whatever they were doing. "What orders do you have for me?" he asked

"I wish to discuss your next assignment in private." she replied

"Very well." Aaron then motioned his two subordinates to stay put as he and the inquisitor left the messhall. As they were moving through the corridors to her chamber she began to chuckle lightly

"Something funny?" Aaron asked frowning knowing full well why she was laughing

"I find it funny that you did not tell the troops the full name of Lenna Krask, Aaron." she replied

"I don't wanna talk about it." Aaron replied

"Oh? You don't want to talk about how you use the name of a dead person as your simple nickname? How would Lenna feel to know that her name was being used by a failure such as you?" the inquisitor replied smugly

"I said I don't want to talk about it." Aaron replied sternly "Why do you even care anyway?"

"I don't, but it does serve to remind you of your failure to protect those close to you."

"Just like you and that holocron with the jedi?" Aaron shot back

"How did you found about that?" the inquisitor stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Aaron

"The grand inquisitor was rather vocal about you before he perished. Told me quite a few things." Aaron replied smugly

"This conversation is over." without another word the inquisitor turned and marched on. Shrugging Aaron followed to her chamber. Once inside Aaron took a moment to observe his surroundings and to his surprise the room was on a whole new level of clean. Regardless he turned to the inquisitor and spoke

"So what is my next assignment?"

"That will come in due time. I've been severely questioned about the legitimacy of your story regarding the death of the grand inquisitor by the Grand moff. He pointed out the ridiculousness of a simple child managing to best both you and the grand inquisitor and to release his own master and not only that, he also pointed out one very crucial detail. The grand inquisitor's death coincided with the arrival of the rebels Aaron."

Aaron frowned as he processed the information he was give. The idea of the Grand moff finding out about what he did scared him and if that information got out to higher authorities or even the false Emperor then his career in the Empire would abruptly come to an end.

"This isn't good at all..." Aaron muttered "What do you suggest I do?"

"What you'll do is also your assignment. The Grand moff summoned you and the minister tonight for a face to face discussion aboard his temporary star destroyed up in orbit."

"Wait, why is he summoning minister Tua for? What did she do wrong?"

"She failed in organising her garrison and defend vital Imperial assets. I share the Grand moff's opinion on her. She isn't capable in commanding a military force and I believe she'll be replaced very soon."

Aaron frown deepened. While what the inquisitor said was true in regards to the minister's military skill, she had become something akin to a friend to Aaron and the thought of her being replaced saddened him. _Perhaps it is for the better assuming that my secret my be found out... _Aaron thought to himself

"Does she know?" he began

"No, we'll inform her once this conversation ends, now. What will you do to testify your credibility to the moff?" The inquisitor asked

"I don't know... most likely I'll describe the event in a very descriptive way, and if that doesn't work I'll think of something."

"I hope it doesn't come down to you on the run again with the Empire after you. It would be a waste having to track you down again... only this time there wouldn't be any prisoners." the inquisitor replied

Aaron's frown deepened even further. Not only was she feigning innocence, she wasn't even a little grateful for him carrying out her plan... and then he realised something. He was taking the fall for her... for a person he hated. It angered him knowing that she wouldn't have a second thought about hunting him down...

"Lets hope..." Aaron muttered through gritted teeth

The inquisitor instead chuckled "Cheer up, everything's being taken care of, don't worry. Now come along, we've gotta inform the minister." without another word she left the room. Aaron instead remained for a couple of seconds pondering his position

"Yea... Don't worry..." he muttered angrily to himself before moving after the inquisitor. The trip to her office was short and they found her working on a data pad at her desk. Once she saw them she put away her datapad and stood up.

"Inquisitor, agent Krask, is there anything that I can do for you?" she asked

"The Grand moff wishes to know the current situation regarding the rebels."

The minister sighed "Look, I've exhausted every resource to find information about the rebels but there is nothing to be found! What more does Governor Tarkin expect?!"

"He expects this world to be punished Minister. His own personal Star Destroyer was nearly destroyed by those rebels. He took that quite personally." the inquisitor replied

The minister groaned slightly "I've set up checkpoints, doubled patrols, established curfews, I honestly don't know what else to do..." she said sitting back into her chair

"You can bring that up with him tonight minister, when you and my assistant will attend his meeting."

"W-what? To-tonight? But that isn't possible inquisitor. I'm needed here, I can't possibly get away!" the minister pleaded although it seemed her plea fell on deaf ears

"Don't worry minister, Agent Kallus and I will manage in your absence. I'll leave the two of you to prepare." then without another word the inquisitor left leaving Aaron and minister Tua alone.

The minister looked terrified by the prospect of their meeting as she buried her face in her palms, no doubt fearing the possible replacement.

"Don't worry minister, whatever happens tonight I'm sure everything will work out." Aaron tried to reassure her, knowing full well the possible outcome of their meeting

"No, it won't..." she replied looking sadly at Aaron. Then almost instantly her expression changed from scared to determined "There's something I gotta do agent Krask. If you could leave I'd be very grateful." she began

"Very well, see you tonight." then without another word he as well left, going back to the messhall. _Damnation... This is something I don't need right now... Damned Empire and their laws... _Aaron thought to himself angrily. Why didn't the Empire just kill those abominable things was above him. They already relegated them to being inferior so why not take the extra step? _Oh well... such is the nature of the __unenlightened that do not know the word of the God Emperor. _Aaron thought reentering the messhall. Thankfully his subordinates were still seated at his table.

"So, what's the job?" Red asked

"The Grand moff called me and the minister tonight to discuss some things." Aaron replied sitting back in his seat

"Oh man, does that mean we're on guard duty tonight?" Red continued

"No, you're coming with me."

"Its still the same though, we'll be standing around while the rest of you talk!" red exclaimed

"Calm down red, you'll get your action when we go after the rebels." Holt said before turning to Aaron "Say Krask, do you still have your uplifting book thing? I kinda wanna read it." he continued

"Nah sorry. The last day I spent in the Imperium was work day so we left our personal belongings on our bunks. Pretty certain its been buried with the rest of my things."

"At least you still have your armour and equipment though." Red pointed out

"But for how long though. In time it will get destroyed and then what?"

"Then you'll get new armour, simple as that." Holt replied

"It isn't as simple as that, the quality won't be the same..."

"I know what you mean. Every time I saw you shrug off shots it made me envious of your armour. Our armour doesn't do anything to protect us while your's simply absorbs everything."

"The might of the ceramite." Aaron proudly replied

"Hold on a second, ceramite?" Red asked

"Yea, what about it?"

"I heard of it before. Two days after you departed while being on guard duty I overheard two deck officers talk about a project the Empire has just begun. It went by the same name." Red explained

Aaron frowned as he processed the information. The project no doubt started because of the spare flak armour of the dead that came alongside him although it made no sense. There weren't any minerals that could composite in the making of ceramite in this galaxy. _Perhaps they found a workaround... a similar material _He thought to himself

"That's good I guess" Aaron replied before rising up "If you'll excuse me I think I'll retire for the rest of the day."

"Sure no problem, what about us though?" Holt asked

"Go pester the inquisitor, I'm sure she'll find a good use for you." Aaron replied before turning and leaving. He heard a loud groan coming from Red and a smile appeared on his lips. It quickly dissipated as his mind wandered to more important matters.

"What the frak am I gonna do..." he muttered when he entered his quarters. It wasn't as if he had any other choice, it was either testify his story's credibility or be convicted of killing the xeno inquisitor. How much he wanted to just turn the second sister in but he knew that he would be also be convicted as he carried out the plan. He nearly screamed at his own bad luck as he fell into his bed.

"Why God Emperor?... Why?" he asked out "Why am I being punished like this?... Why do I have to follow these twisted laws of this false Empire and the unenlightened..." Aaron wondered "No... I can't let this happen. If push comes to shove I gotta be ready..." A wave of determination filled him as he started formulating plans after plans of how to escape if it came down to it. Unfortunately he realised one crucial thing. That he was yet to learn how to pilot a ship. That meant that all he could do is take a escape pod to the planet and hide in the populace, at least until a means to leave arose.

"Perhaps that is the best I can do for now... Maybe I could barter with the rebels for safe transport in exchange for more information..." Aaron wondered. While the idea of relying on rebels disgusted him there was little else he could do to escape.

"Well now... might as well recite my shitty story until the time comes." and so he did for the rest of the day. Making sure to go over every single detail that he could 'remember'. Unfortunately time wasn't on his side on this one as night fell faster than he realised and so he went and collected his squad and went to the capitals space port. Why they needed to use the civilian space port was beyond him as they could easily use the complex's many hangars but oh well, he wasn't one to question the Empire's logic. They were unenlightened fools anyway.

* * *

"Where's that damned pilot..." Aaron said to no one in particular as he was pacing impatiently around the area. It had been around half an hour since they had arrived and had to wait for the minister. Their pilot was even lazier than them as he hadn't even showed up.

"I'm sure he'll come." Holt replied from where he was standing in front of the entrance

"Easy for you to say, you don't have a meeting with the Grand moff." Aaron shot back

"Alright calm down, I'm gonna go do a sweep around the area." then without another word the sergeant left to patrol the area.

Seeing that frustration target no. 1 left Aaron turned to frustration target no. 2. Red simply shook his head and turned away. Seeing that none wanted to put up with his shit he resumed his pacing around the place. Thankfully it didn't take long for the minister to a appear in a grav car driven by agent Kallus.

"What in the Emperor's name is he doing here..." Aaron muttered to himself. Whatever the agent was doing was not something he cared about. He had other things more important at hand. "Sergeant return from your sweep, they've arrived." he waited for a response but none came "Sergeant?"

The sergeant appeared from the other end of the street tapping the side of his helmet indicating his comm was not working. _Faulty equipment... _Aaron thought before turning to look at the incoming grav car. It stopped by the entrance and the two disembarked. The minister looked as if she was scared and anxious at the same time. He couldn't really blame her as he himself was feeling a little off.

"Thank you agent Kallus but there is no need for an escort." the minister began

"The inquisitor asked me to make sure you reach the Grand Moff safely minister." Kallus replied

"So you are our pilot?" Aaron asked

"Yes I am."

Aaron nodded and turned to look just in time as the sergeant returned. "Alright lets get a move on, we're late as it is."

"Krask, the meeting's in two hours. We're not late." the minister replied chuckling nervously

"I know but punctuality is a key aspect when going to meetings."

"I didn't know you had political skills agent." Kallus said

"I was supposed to be a clerk in the Administratum before the drill abbots realised I could shoot straight."

Thankfully the conversation ended there and as they entered Aaron couldn't get his eyes off the sergeant. _Did Holt get a little thinner? _Aaron thought to himself and then it clicked

"Hey, hold on a second... You're not the sergeant!" Aaron called out. Everyone turned to look at the suspicious sergeant

"Hey!" a feminine voice called from the street. Everyone once again turned to look at the newcomer to find the mandalorian rebel crouched in the middle of the street with her pistols drawn. She immediately opened fire prompting the imperials to seek cover inside the hangar while the suspicious sergeant shot the control panel of the hangar effectively closing it and trapping himself and the imperials inside before revealing himself to be Kanan by using his sorcerer powers to throw everyone except the minister away.

Aaron flew into a stack of crates but thankfully the impact wasn't as painful as the one on the _sovereign. _He scrambled to his feet and took aim only to stop when he saw that the minister was taking cover alongside the jedi.

"Wha-what the frak?" he asked bewildered

"All units move in! We got them now!" agent Kallus shouted into his comm somewhere in the back "Take him down!"

Kallus and Red opened fire on the jedi having at least some caution as to not hit the minister all the while Aaron looked on confused and bewildered. _The minister's deserting?! How can this be?! _he thought to himself. He was brought back into the world when Kanan opened fire towards him prompting him to take cover behind the crates he smashed in.

"Watch out for the minister! Don't hurt her!" Aaron shouted to his allies. They at least tried to take his advice as they continued to shoot. He was about to open fire on the jedi when a couple of weak shots connected with his back plate. He turned to look at the rest of the rebel band, minus the Lasat xeno standing next to their shuttle.

"We've been outflanked! Regroup!" Aaron shouted

Seeing that they had been encircled and outnumbered, the imperials regrouped and took cover on the right side of the hangar utilizing whatever crates were laying around as cover. Kanan and the minister saw this as their chance and broke into a sprint and rejoined their friends.

"We can't let them take our shuttle!" Red shouted jumping out of cover and sprinting towards the rebels

"No don't!" Aaron called out but it was already too late. The trooper didn't make it more than five steps before being shot twice by the mandalorian girl crumbling to the ground. "You dumb frak!" Aaron shouted angrily letting loose his lasgun at the rebels.

Seeing that they were suppressed the rebels broke into a sprint to the shuttle with the minister being the first to enter. And then it exploded throwing the rebels all around the room.

"MINISTER NO!" Aaron cried out in desperation. This was what he was rewarded for getting close to people. From the young trooper that reminded him of his younger self to the one person in the Empire to show him empathy this was what he was subjected to. Having to see them die and not be able to do a thing about it although there was a single feeling and question left in his mind as he watched the wreckage _How did this happen..._

"You've done this!" Agent Kallus shouted at the rebels rising from his cover.

Aaron then heard as the hangar's doors opened and a squad of stormtroopers entered alongside a rather convenient camera droid. _What is going on! _Aaron thought completely confused.

Just as easily as they were thrown away by the explosion the rebels quickly regrouped and took cover while a civilian ship descended and landed right next to them. "Open fire damn it!" Kallus shouted to the troopers. Everyone opened fire towards the rebels and the ship but despite their best efforts the rebel ship managed to escape.

Kallus immediately started barking orders to the troopers while Aaron was fixated to the now burning wreckage that was supposed to take them to the Grand moff's ship. "The rebels didn't do this..." he muttered to himself before turning to look at the agent. Just by looking at the man Aaron felt his anger swell with every waking moment. He quickly marched to the man with high hopes that he could explain what transpired here.

"I hope you have an explanation for what happened here agent..." Aaron said through gritted teeth

The agent turned to look at the man with a confused expression "I don't follow what you're trying to say Krask, what is there to explain? Don't you already know?" he asked

"No. I don't." Aaron sneered

"The minister came into contact with the rebels and was going to defect sooner or later. We couldn't just let her do that so we came up with this trap... Didn't the inquisitor tell you already?"

"No she didn't! The only thing she told me was that things were going to be taken care of..."

"But that doesn't make sense... She told me you already were informed and were supporting this operation!"

"She lied to you, I was kept in the dark the whole damned day! She told me that I actually had to go meet with the Grand moff." Aaron all but shouted

"Damn that woman! If I knew I wouldn't approved this op and detained the minister then and there!" Kallus shouted angrily before his comm started beeping "What?!" he asked impatient. It was a gunned of an AT-DP walker who engaged and disabled the rebels ship inside the city.

"Perhaps we can still salvage the situation..." Kallus muttered before turning to Aaron "I know you and the minister were close but you must understand that sooner or later she would of defected and gave vital imperial information."

"I know but it still doesn't make me feel any better... Why in the Emperor's name was the shuttle rigged to explode is I may ask?!"

"In case the Rebels would've used it to escape it would detonate with them inside... I guess it didn't work that good."

"It didn't..." Aaron said before turning and making his way towards the exit

"Where are you going?" Kallus asked

"To have a nice long chat with the inquisitor." Aaron replied darkly. He was thankful that his face was hidden behind his helmet as his scowl screamed murder. He paused just outside the hangar to look back at the wreckage, taking a moment to honour the dead minister. After the moment passed he immediately set towards the imperial complex, deciding that walking there would lighten his anger. As he walked by the first alley he saw the nearly naked unconscious body of sergeant Holt. Aaron frowned at the sight before him and continued on. This wasn't something he wanted to deal with. The only thing he wanted to deal with was the inquisitor's manipulation of everything that went on today. He also wondered if the Grand moff knew about what was going on but put it at the back of his mind. As long as he wasn't being questioned for what transpired on the S_overeign_ he was fine.

* * *

Unfortunately, nearly two hours of walking to the complex weren't enough to calm his anger as he entered the complex. The only peace he got was when he was walking through the empty corridors of the complex. With how the entire garrison had been dispatched to hunt the rebel group the complex was rather barren much to his pleasure. Unfortunately his peace was disrupted as he came close to the command center as even with its doors closed he could hear a heated argument going on inside. Stormtrooper training kicking in he sneaked near and listened on, thanking the Emperor for his Forceless being. Inside he could hear the inquisitor having a conversation with another person, both of them having their voices distorted by their helmets.

"- sure of this claim Second sister?" a deep male voice said

"Yes lord Vader, he had personally confessed to me this morning after he was released from the infirmary."

"I've already told you that he who doesn't serve Lord Sidious doesn't serve the Empire and this individual is no exception. You should've eliminated him the moment you found him." Vader continued

"He has served his purpose well." the inquisitor argued

"And he became something close to a loose cannon. His actions aboard the Sovereign speak for himself."

"Forgive me my lord but I have modified the orders you have given me to make sure he perished alongside the minister. If all went according to plan he should be dead by now."

"And if he isn't I want you to hunt-" Aaron didn't wait to see where the conversation went as he slowly made his way back around the corner before sprinting into a full sprint to the nearest elevator. _Frak, frak, frak! What is with today! _He thought as he frantically set the elevator to take him to his room's floor. After he entered his room he quickly set to fill his pack with all the things he considered valuable to him. After he filled his bag he made to leave but immediately froze when his comm beeped.

"Aaron, I was informed by agent Kallus that you wish to speak to me." the second sister began

Keeping his cool Aaron replied "Yes, I'm making my way to you right now." he lied

"Oh? And where exactly are you right now?" she asked

"Just entered the complex right now. Making my way to the command center." he lied

"Oh really? And why do the security cameras show you just exiting your room?" she replied

Aaron turned instantly to look at a camera at the far end of the corridor which was fixated on him. He cursed himself for being so reckless before breaking into a sprint to the nearest elevator.

"There is no point in running away Aaron. You know you're just prolonging the inevitable." the second sister said smugly

"So this is what you meant by 'Everything's being taken care of?" Aaron asked as he set the elevator to go to the ground floor

The inquisitor in response laughed out loud "Do you honestly think I'd let any loose ends get in the way of my redemption? You were nothing but an asset from the very beginning Aaron. A tool to be used and discarded and I maximized your use to your highest." she replied smugly

"Damn you heretic!" Aaron shouted in anger

"Don't you dare compare me to your fellow savages from your galaxy Aaron. I am nothing like you monsters."

Aaron didn't reply and instead deactivated his comm unit and dataslate. Who knew if she could slice into his blessed machines. As he exited the elevator he had the misfortune to find the inquisitor at the far side of the corridor, lightsaber drawn and ready. He immediately let loose a burst but to his own expectations she deflected them without trouble. Seeing that he was in a tough spot considering there wasn't much room to maneuver he instead broke into another spring away from the inquisitor, occasionally looking back to see her simply walking after him as if she had everything in control. She didn't even use her sorcerer powers on him to stop his attempt at escape which he was thankful for even if slightly.

After countless corridors he had ran through without meeting anyone he finally ran into the first troops so far. They looked at him confused but to their own shock they were quickly gunned down. He was finally nearing the hangar, no one would stand in his way to escaping.

"Why are you running?" the inquisitor asked awfully calm from behind.

Aaron didn't reply, instead focusing on escaping. After a couple more corridors and no other encounter he finally entered the hangar. Most vehicles had already been deployed in search of the rebels but a few still remained, mostly troop transports and speeder bikes.

"Attention all remaining units in the complex" The inquisitors voice came over the intercom "My former assistant has been found guilty of murdering the Grand inquisitor. He is to be shot on sight."

_There goes any chance of fooling the troops_ he thought to himself as he watched several troopers and engineers draw their weapons at him. He quickly opened fire faster then them, quickly killing several under precise lasfire before taking cover. _How the frak don't I manage to hit the rebels with the same accuracy... Its as if they're protected by some kind of magical shield... _he wondered to himself before peeking up again and taking out another trooper. The inquisitor shortly after entered and immediately began walking in Aaron's direction

"There is no running from the inevitable Aaron. Surrender and I promise to make it quick."

"Never!" Aaron shouted setting his lasgun on the highest power setting. He fired and of course the inquisitor deflected it but not without some mild struggle. Seeing that the highest setting had a chance at doing something he fired several bursts of lasfire at the woman. Of course she deflected each one but every time she deflected a shot she was pushed slightly back and couldn't deflect his shots back at him. Despite the small feeling that he could escape it was quickly crushed when the inquisitor moved stopped playing around and moved at inhuman speeds and sliced his lasgun in half.

Anger flowed through him as he watched the only weapon sanctioned by the Imperium in this galaxy being broken in half and with a speed that only imperial stormtroopers were known for he smacked the inquisitor on the side of her helmet with the butt of his now broken weapon. It seriously disoriented her giving him enough time to run away. He quickly remembered there were still some troopers in the hangar just waiting for him to peek out but he didn't care, wounds themselves could be mended, death couldn't.

And so he waded through the shots of his former allies until he reached the closest speeder bike. He quickly got on the bike and fired it up, quickly exiting the hangar. He didn't look back as he ran, instead focusing on getting as far as possible as he could.

After driving through several streets and back alleys away from the complex he came to the conclusion that only the troops in the complex had been notified of his 'betrayal' and so he acted quick in order to be able to protect himself. He quickly searched the surrounding streets for any troopers and quickly found two soldiers standing guard in an intersection. They didn't show any hostilities and he took the chance, stopping next to them. Funnily enough they saluted him.

"Agent Krask" one of them began "There's nothing to report from this area sir. The rebels must've gone in some other sector."

"Actually... We've engaged them some ten minutes ago and my weapon got destroyed. I need one of you're guns troopers." Aaron lied

The troopers awkwardly looked at one another before shrugging "Sure no problem." one of the troopers said handing Aaron his blaster. Underneath his helmet a wicked smile formed on his face as he gunned down the bewildered and shocked troopers. Climbing off the speeder bike he decided that moving on foot was better than on a bike as every so often a gunship would pass in the distance.

He kept to the shadows and avoided any patrols that passed around him. From the chatter he heard he deduced that now everyone was looking for both him and the rebels.

"Fraking hell... This is the last time I serve a Emperor forsaken inquisitor..." he muttered darkly as he passed through an alley. To think that he broke his oath to the Imperium thinking that he could continue serving mankind... He was no doubt a heretic in the Emperor's eyes but right now surviving was all that mattered. He could repent later.

After many more close encounters in which he was almost spotted he finally got to the part of town which was mostly abandoned. The residents no doubt deported or arrested by the Empire. There was surprisingly a lot of imperial activity in the area which didn't surprise Aaron, after all what better place to hide other than old abandoned houses.

As he passed through a small street he saw as a squad of stormtroopers rounded the corner and were interrogating some civilians. Thinking quickly he doubled back on the street and took shelter inside a small house. It looked abandoned from the looks of it with dust covering everything. He slowly inspected the living room finding nothing of worth other than a what looked like a deactivated astromech droid. He then inspected the rest of the rooms finding them in similar shape. Satisfied that he was alone and no homeless or drug filled junkie would jump him he fell into the living rooms sofa, kicking a ton of dust in the process although he didn't care as in that moment the only thing that preoccupied him was how would he leave the world and escape from the Empire.

He sighed and laid back in his seat. _I should've seen it coming... I should've damned seen it coming._ He thought. He knew the inquisitor was only out for herself but he didn't expect her to get rid of him right away. All the times in which she congratulated him only seemed to anger him all the more. And not only that but she also broke his lasgun... She would pay...

He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Too much was going through it right now and it wasn't healthy for the trooper. After a couple of minutes of clear silence he heard something, something from down below. It sounded like someone was climbing a ladder. Quickly inspecting the the small round table he found out that it could be moved by accidentally moving it slightly. All motion ceased and Aaron slowly grabbed his blaster and prepared to shoot whoever was down below. He didn't get the chance as the supposedly deactivated droid came back online and charged him.

"Whoa! Wait!" Aaron exclaimed but to no avail as the droid slammed into him screeching in binary

This somehow gave the signal to whoever was hiding down below as the lasat xeno of all things burst through the trap door and snatched Aaron up and threw him down the hole. Down he found the whole rebel crew primed and ready.

"Wait! Hold on!" Aaron tried to plea but was thoroughly ignored as the xeno's foot slammed into his head with enough force to knock him unconscious. His world went dark.

* * *

When he came to he was bound without his weapon and helmet down in the hole with the rebels looking at him. The lasat and the mandalorian were the ones guarding him while the rest stood nearby

"Hey, he's finally awake." the mandalorian girl announced

Aaron grimaced at his situation he found himself in. "Of all the houses that I could've picked I took the one with you of all people... Just my rotten luck." Aaron sneered at the group

"Nice to see you too." Ezra replied sarcastically "But seriously though, what are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? Hiding from the Empire." Aaron replied

"Pfft, as if we'd buy that." the lasat xeno said "You were all nice and dandy with agent Kallus not two hours ago."

"A lot of things happened in this time I assure you."

"Such as?" Kanan asked smugly, no doubt knowing why.

Aaron groaned as he looked at the jedi "Go ahead Kanan, no point in hiding the facts."

"Told you so Krask."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Kanan "You didn't tell us his name Kanan." The twi'lek xeno spoke

"Only because he's not one of the good ones and certainly not one of the stablest." Kanan replied crossing his arms at Aaron

"Hey I've done what was asked of me." Aaron replied frowning

"What did he do?" Ezra asked

Kanan turned to look at his friends and sighed as if he was about to take something heavy off his heart "I didn't eliminate the Grand inquisitor. He did." he said pointing at Aaron

"You did?!" the mando girl exclaimed "How did that happen?"

"I was doing something for someone who didn't deserve it, and was foolish enough to believe she wouldn't backstab me and make it as if I was the only one responsible."

"It still doesn't forgive you for what happened today." The twi'lek almost growled at him

"Today was a disaster and I mean it, I was kept in the dark for the whole day thinking I was supposed to meet with the Grand moff with the Minister. Kallus was made to believe that I was alright with the whole operation and went ahead and approved it."

"And the rigged ship? what was that about?"

"A ploy to get rid of me and the minister... I was a loose end for the inquisitor and the Empire found out the minister collided with you people."

"She only contacted us once. When she wanted to flee."

"Its still classified as collusion." Aaron argued.

"What are we going to do with him Kanan?" the lasat xeno asked impatiantly

Kanan remained silent as he pondered the question "The better question is what will he do if we release him Zeb." Kanan replied. Everyone turned to look at Aaron as if they were expecting an answer but he himself found none. He wasn't part of the Empire anymore and by definition he was now a 'rebel'. Although the concept of working with the ones he fought so many times didn't stand well with him he couldn't deny the opportunities were many. The rebels could get him off this world and away from the Empire. After that he could find his own life.

"Right now... I don't want anything but to get away from the Empire." Aaron replied after what felt like a lifetime

"Still though" the mandalorian began "What do you offer for us to help you?"

"Alliance of convenience I see. I can give you whatever inquisitorial codes they gave me in exchange for getting me out of here. Hows that sound?"

The rebels pondered his offer and seemed to accept it "Definitely not what we came here for but we'll take what we can, besides, Inquisitorial codes are incredibly hard to come by." the twi'lek said

"Its still not enough." Ezra said crossing his arms

"What? What more do you want kid?"

"An apology for all the times you've done something bad to us."

Aaron groaned at the childish antiques of the kid. Still, if it got him away he was okay with it "Fine, I'm sorry for all the times I've done something wrong to you people, and I'm sorry for shooting you several times... And I'm sorry for headbutting you mando... And I'm sorry for almost killing you lasat xeno..."

"We have names you know..." The xeno grumbled crossing his arms

"Sorry but I don't really care... Is that all kid?"

"Not by a long shot but its a start."

"If we're on the whole apology thing I'm sorry for shooting you in the head Skull guy." the mandalorian girl said

"What the frak did you just call me?"

"What? Don't you have a fetish for skulls?"

Aaron's frown spoke volumes.

"I guess not."

"Can anyone please release me? I promise I won't do anything to hurt you." Aaron asked

The lasat ripped his bound ropes and Aaron slowly rose up not making any sudden moves. The rebels eyed him with suspicion until he raised his hands up to show them he was no threat. "Can I have my helmet?" he asked

"Here's your bucket." the xeno replied handing him his helmet

Aaron quickly donned his helmet and almost instantly felt better. The xeno's smell was already slowly driving him insane. The rebels were about to return to whatever they were planning when their mechanical nightmare piped in from upstairs beeping frantically

"They found us?!" Kanan explaimed

"We gotta get out of here!" Ezra said pointing to a small air duct

"Can we fit in there kid?!" The lasat xeno asked

"Probably?" the kid replied awkwardly

"Its the best we have, Chopper come down here." the twi'lek xeno said

The droid used its small jets to fly down the hole. Then they started climbing into the air duct with the lasat xeno and Aaron staying behind to push the mechanical menace

"Alright xeno push!"

"I have a name you know..." the xeno replied

"I don't care. Now push!"

Together they pushed the machine as far as they could before it actually started moving on its own. "Ohh the little...!" the xeno exclaimed. Aaron ignored him and made to enter the vent only to be stopped by the xeno

"I get to go first mister Imperial." the alien sneered before entering the duct himself. It looked like he had problems moving at first but then it went smoothly. Aaron crammed himself in the vent with much more ease than the alien and quickly made his way up to the roof where everyone else was situated in a small circle. Just as he exited the vent a large explosion was heard from ground level, no doubt the house they were situated in was blown up.

"So, where's your ship?" Aaron asked as he joined the group

"Back with the fleet... the one we came here was destroyed a little while back." the twi'lek replied

"So you're stuck on the planet."

"Not if we steal an Imperial shuttle." Kanan replied

"Where from though" the mado girl said tapping some keys on her wrist dataslate and a hologram appeared from the droid "All of the Imperial airports are under lockdown."

"What about the Imperial Complex?" Kanan asked

"The Imperial complex? Are you crazy?" the twi'lek asked

"He actually makes sense though." Aaron replied getting the attention of everyone "Every soldier in the garrison was deployed to find us so the complex is practically barren."

"Hmm" the mando girl began "Considering their troop placements cutting off all exits of the city and all the patrols the safe bet I'd say the least activity would be near the factories... There are landing platforms outside their supply hangars. They're our best chance if we're gonna find a shuttle."

"I'm already dressed for the part." Kanan piped in

"I still find it off putting that you wear my sergeant's armour..." Aaron said

"And does that matter that much to you?"

"Not really anymore, Holt's loyal to the Empire so he'll no doubt shoot us."

"Well then, lets get this show on the road."

* * *

If there was one thing Aaron hated now more than ever was how he had no say in how the rebels created their plan. Ezra had sneaked in and stole some cadet clothes alongside a cargo platform with a bunch of crates. One for each, thing was he had to share his with a xeno... Funnily enough, having to watch the xeno hold his breath as to not smell itself was a rather pleasing sight for Aaron, him being blessed with a built in rebreather. Embarrassingly enough he had to listen to the child's failed attempt at a mind trick before Kanan stepped in and averted a catastrophy. It didn't take long for them to reach a safe place in a armory to get out of their crates and when they did the lasat xeno was the loudest.

"Great, couldn't you be a little louder xeno?" Aaron asked sarcasticaly

"Karabast, how come you're not affected?" the alien asked

"Built in rebreather, smelling the same stale air from back in the Imperium." Aaron replied

"Not that his shouting matters that much, you were right skull guy, no one's around." The mando girl said from the door

"Seriously if you say that name one more time I'm gonna stop being the nice guy." Aaron warned prompting the mando to raise her hands in placating gesture

"Alright, Sabine you know where to go from here right?"

"Hold on..." she replied tapping at her dataslate "Alright, we need to go through there, follow me."

As the rebels started piling to leave Aaron took one of the blasters from the racks prompting the group to stop and stare at him suspiciously.

"What? You wanna get off this planet. An extra fighter would add a lot to the equation." he said to the group

"Just be careful where you aim that thing... Don't wanna end up being shot from behind..." the lasat xeno grumbled

Aaron ignored the xeno and went alongside the group. Just as before the complex was incredibly empty and devoid of any personal save for the occasional two man patrols that the rebels simply knocked out.

"Why don't we just kill them?" Aaron asked

"We don't do this kind of things Krask." Kanan argued "It would destroy what we stand for. Peace."

"Sometimes to achieve peace you gotta get your hands dirty..."

"Quiet you two!" The twi'lek whispered harshly at them "We're getting close now."

True to her word they quickly exited the Complex out into the factory levels with large open areas filled to the brim with machinery, equipment and ships, mostly fighters and to their own luck a Lambda Class shuttle stood on a landing platform just waiting for them. He should've felt good but instead Aaron felt as if something bad was going to happen. It had been too quiet and too easy for his own liking. Where was the inquisitor? She had hunted him with little to no problem throughout the complex but now there was no sign of her.

"There's our shuttle! What did I tell ya." Kanan said looking at the ship

"You did good Kanan." the twi'lek

They broke into a sprint towards the shuttle with only Sabine stopping to check something on the left "Hera! Come over here!" she called out in a hushed tone. The twi'lek quickly went over and inspected what they found.

"Military grade power generators." Hera said with a smile "This will definitely turn this day around. The fleet could really use them."

"Everyone, Get as many as you can." Sabine said to the group

Everyone, even the metal menace moved to take the generators and quickly transported them to the ship. Ezra and Kanan paused just outside and shared a look.

"Do you feel that Kanan?" Ezra asked

"Yes... The anger..."

They turned to look at the hangar's door only to see the second sister standing at the entrance with her blade drawn.

"Uhh Krask? Is she?" Ezra asked

"Yes, she's the new inquisitor... Kill her!" Aaron shouted taking aim and firing at the inquisitor. Of course she deflected the bolts with little to no effort and slowly started moving towards them

"I must admit I've been incredibly ecstatic to know that not only did you return in record time but you've also brought the whole rebel group. Outstanding work Aaron. Its only a shame you'll have to die now, nothing personal." the inquisitor said

"Who's Aaron?" Ezra asked confused

"That's my actual name..." Aaron replied "Aaron Webb..."

"You've lied to us even about your name?" Kanan asked

"Its the only false information I've given you. The rest was always true."

"It doesn't matter if its false or true, You'll be dead before you know it." the inquisitor smugly said

Kanan and Ezra activated their lightsabers and got into their defensive stances. Out in the back of the hangar more troops started pouring in.

"Looks like we're in for a nasty fight!" Aaron shouted taking cover behind some crates alongside Sabine and the lasat xeno. Hera and her metal menace quickly boarded the shuttle to prepare it to launch.

"Well then, shall we get started? I really wish to see for myself the skill of the jedi group which caught the attention of the Empire." the inquisitor said smugly before falling into a combat stance. Immediately she launched herself at Kanan swinging her sword in a deadly arc. Thankfully Kanan's focus on defense proved fruitful as he parried all the while Ezra tried to slash at her lower body. She quickly jumped out of the way and used her powers to throw the young boy to the ground. She then once again launched herself at Kanan as the two joined in their duel of light slashing, parrying and dodging one another while Ezra started providing some cover to his friends from the Stormtroopers.

"Blast the rebels!" A familiar sounding sergeant shouted as he entered the fray with his squad

Aaron soon came to the realisation that he would have to kill his old sergeant if he were to escape. Quickly rising from cover he shot several troopers that had just entered the fray

"How come when you fought against us you fought like a true stormtrooper but now you can actually aim well?" Sabine asked

"That's something I've been wondering myself kid." he replied killing another trooper

"Krask! You'll pay for your treachery!" Holt shouted over the blaster fire

"Friend of yours?" The xeno asked

"The guy Kanan stole his armour from." Aaron replied before peeking to shoot again scoring another trooper. He was forced back into cover as he came under fire from Holt and his men. On the other side Kanan was having difficulties standing up to the inquisitor as her aggressive nature in combat proved to be a little too much for the jedi. Seeing this Ezra quickly joined the fray with a wide and clumsy swing which the inquisitor easily parried and retaliated by smacking the kid in the head.

"You cannot hope to defeat me like this child, you are weak, I can make you strong if you join me." The inquisitor boasted

"I'm more comfortable with Kanan than you." Ezra replied

"Unfortunately Jarrus wont be around for long to teach you, and when he's gone You'll either join me or die."

"I'm not afraid of you!" the child replied

"We'll see about that!" the inquisitor mocked and used her powers to raise Ezra high in the air and throw him straight into the wall. He slammed with enough force that he lost the grip on his lightsaber and crumbled to the ground. As he weakly got to his feet he was stopped when a stormtrooper sergeant kicked him to the ground.

"Its over jedi!" He shouted taking aim only to crumble to the ground with a shot in the head

Looking back Ezra saw that it hadn't been Sabine or Zeb which took out the trooper but rather Krask as he stood with his weapon pointed at the dead trooper. He quickly scrambled to his feet, retrieved his lightsaber and turned to see Kanan being slowly pushed back by the inquisitor. He quickly rejoined the fray and together they actually started pushing the woman back.

In the meanwhile Hera came down the shuttles ramp "Alright people! We gotta go!" she shouted over to the rest

"We need a way to block those frakkers!" Aaron shouted shooting another trooper

"There! Those walkers!" Sabine replied taking out a bunch of thermal detonators "Do you know what I do in sticky situations?" she asked the xeno

"Blow stuff up!" the xeno replied with a laugh

She handed the xeno and Aaron a bunch of bombs and took aim "Aim for their legs!" They threw their bombs with adequate accuracy and to Aaron's surprise they stuck to the walkers legs before exploding. Seeing the explosion Kanan and Ezra took their chance and combined their power to throw the inquisitor away just as the walkers came down on her.

"This is our chance! Lets go!" Hera shouted ushering everyone on board. Aaron and the rest quickly boarded the ship with the jedi taking a little longer. "Alright Chopper get us out of here!" Hera continued.

As the ship ascended Aaron looked out the open ramp to see the inquisitor climbing out of the wreckage unharmed. He quickly took aim and fired several shots before the ramp closed. All of them were deflected. Sighing he turned to the rebel group and took the farthest seat from them. Unfortunately Ezra had other plans and took a seat next to him.

"Thanks for saving me back there." Ezra began "For all the times you've made us problems you're not a bad guy."

Aaron in turn scoffed "You're naive kid. Just because I help you people doesn't mean I wanna join you."

"Why not?"

"There are many reasons but the most important one is that I'm no rebel. I don't fight for the xenos of this galaxy and certainly don't hold the idealistic ideas of your 'democracy'. Now if you'll excuse me I have a list of codes to make."

Ezra frowned but got the message, rising from his seat and going over to his friends. The twi'lek came back from he cockpit and addressed everyone "Alright people, looks like we're in the clear for now. We can't just leave the planet right now, there's a blockade up in orbit just waiting for us."

"And this shuttle is slow, with barely and weapons and shields" Sabine began "it looks like we're gonna have to be smuggled off the world for a change."

"Smuggle you say... I think I know the right man for the job." Hera replied

Kanan and Ezra shared a look before turning to the twi'lek "Not him!" they said in unison

"Who's him?" Aaron asked confused

"Some smuggler by the name Lando Calrissian. He helped us in the past." Hera replied going back up into the cockpit

"Small emphasis on helped." Ezra replied sarcastically

Aaron slowly shook his head and went back to work. As long as it got him away from the Empire he didn't care. To his own amusement the rebels had to trade half of their power generators in exchange for the guy's help and he wasn't even on the planet. Instead he redirected them to his small farm land he no doubt used as a hideout for his merchandise. Thankfully it took all night for them to get to his place giving Aaron enough time to complete his list of imperial codes. They weren't many but it was more than enough to give the rebels a small edge.

As they descended down the shuttles ramp Aaron couldn't fail to notice the large black smoke coming from the distance. Ezra was fixated on the sight and before anyone knew he jumped on one of the speeder bikes laying around and sped off towards the smoke

"Kid wait-!" Zeb began but it was too late. The kid had already left

Of course Kanan had to follow his apprentice jumping on another bike and speeding away in the same direction. Aaron sighed at the sight, _ Most likely a town the Empire burned... _he grimly thought.

"Zeb, Krask, wanna help me with these?" Sabine asked pointing to a bunch of transponders

"What do you wanna do with those?" Aaron asked

"Simple, I'll change their signature imprint to be the same as our shuttle. That way we can spread them around the atmosphere to confuse the Imperial destroyers and mask our escape." she replied smugly

"That... That actually sound like a good plan." Aaron replied surprised

"Heheh, it sound more like a lousy Sabine plan." Zeb joked

"whatever you say xeno."

"Would you stop calling me that?! Its really racist!" Zeb growled

"Oh, I don't think I will." Aaron replied smugly fully expecting a fight to break out. Zebs anger seemed to swell at his reply as he nearly launched himself at him. Thankfully the mandalorian stepped in to stop the two

"Would you please stop this? You can fight after we escape! For now focus on the job!" she said in a stern tone

As much as he wanted to argue Aaron stood down as well as the xeno. It still didn't fully diffuse the situation as the alien was still angry.

"This isn't over bucket head." Zeb warned darkly

"Ohh, I know..."

An so they went and worked on the transponders, although most of the work was done by Sabine with them mostly whatever she instructed. They were done in less than ten minutes giving them some time to relax. Aaron on the other had used this time to contemplate his situation. He had sinned in the eyes on the Emperor... He had renounced his oath to the Imperium and served another Empire in the hopes that he could continue his service for mankind only to be used by sorcerers and xenos and then tried to be discarded and eliminated. The only thing he wanted to do now was to disappear from the face of the galaxy. _Where can I go so no one can find me... _he thought to himself. There were several planets that people went to run away and disappear, most notably Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa or any planet in Hutt space. A scowl formed on his face when he thought of the oversized slugs. Creatures so disgusting that dwell in decadent and hedonistic palaces. Surrounded by armies of thugs and mercenaries they were the biggest crime lords in the galaxy.

"A rather fitting place to repent..." he muttered to himself

"What place?" Sabine asked coming next to him

"I've just made my mind where I wanna go if we escape."

"After we escape." she corrected him

"You're sure your plan will work?" Aaron asked

"Certainly, now what planet you wanna go to?"

"Nar Shaddaa." Aaron's reply elicited a groan from the kid "What?" he asked

"Whats with everyone that wanna disappear and that place. There are countless other places in the galaxy where you won't be found."

"There may be but for my crimes Nar Shaddaa is more fitting."

"Wait, what crimes? The Empire betrayed you, not the other way around."

Aaron shook his head "Not the crimes I've done to the Empire. They can rot in hell for all I care, the true crimes I've done are against the Imperium and the God Emperor..." he replied in a sad tone

"God Emperor? I know you're not from around but I don't think I follow."

"You don't need to kid. All I can say for sure is that planet is the only place for my sinful kind."

"You haven't done any crimes though. You've just adapted to your surroundings, even if they were bad."

Aaron contemplated what the young woman said and came to the conclusion that she was right to some degree. He did join the Empire thinking that he was helping mankind although that didn't change the fact that he renounced his oath of duty without much of a second thought. For that he was still a traitor to the Imperium.

"As much as I like to think that I did what was right that doesn't change a thing. I've still served under xenos and sorcerers and done their bidding."

"Whatever you say Krask, I've just tried being nice."

"I don't think I deserve that name anymore..."

"Seriously? First Kanan tells us your name is Krask which you lied about, then the inquisitor drops by and calls you Aaron even if you insist that your name is Krask and now you say you don't deserve that name? You have to be the most confusing person I've met."

"Krask was my nickname and codename but now I don't think I deserve it anymore... Not after everything that happened."

"Whatever floats your boat." Sabine replied turning to look as two speeder bikes came into view "They're back!" she called out to everyone. The jedi parked their biked and swiftly made their way to the group

"What happened out there?" Hera asked

"The Empire burned Tarkintown." Kanan replied

The reply shocked the rebel group "Did anyone survive?" Sabine asked

"The population's been captured." Ezra replied.

Zeb seemed riled up as he growled "Lets go bust them out. Where's my rifle?!"

"We can't... they'll be waiting for us." Kanan replied before turning to Hera "You were right, we gotta leave Lothal."

"For the good of Lothal."

"So... whats the plan for getting out of here?" Ezra asked

"Lando had these old transponders laying around. We changed their signatures to match our shuttle, we'll drop 'em in the atmosphere to draw the Empire's attention away while we make our escape. Krask, did you make that list?" Hera asked

"Yes but I'll give it to you only when we've escaped."

"Fine by me. Did you make your mind where you wanna go?" Kanan asked

"Nar Shaddaa." Aaron's reply didn't surprise the jedi. Instead Kanan looked like he had expected that answer

"You'll fit right in the the scum of that planet." The jedi's reply was meant to be an insult but Aaron accepted it for Kanan spoke the truth.

"Well then, everything's ready lets go." Ezra said moving towards the shuttle.

Everyone followed suit and before long they were up in the air dropping Transponders all over the place. After they dropped all of them the transponders they went as far away from them as possible.

"Alright, looks like the Empire's taking the bait, their fighters are breaking off to intercept our fake signals." Hera said over the intercom. For a xeno she knew what she was doing.

"We'll be long gone by then... Exiting orbit now." Kanan added

"We're already home free now, entering hyperspace now."

Aaron felt a slight headache signaling they entered the hyperspace and sighed. _Freedom finally... _He thought to himself before rising and making his way to Sabine

"Here's the codes." He offered the small datapack he filled with imperial codes.

"Thanks, you really held your end of the bargain."

"Just like you people did." and without another word he went back to his seat waiting for the ship to exit into realspace. It took them several hour to get to the heart of Hutt space and when they arrived Aaron was very intrigued about the sight. A moon sized city that put most hive worlds to shame he wondered just how many people lived down below.

"You sure you wanna do this Aaron?" Ezra asked

"More than sure... Certain." Aaron replied not caring someone used his actual name. After all, what would Lenna say if she saw him now... A traitor to the Imperium and the tenets of the imperial creed. He didn't deserve that name.

"Docking now." Hera said over the intercom

"Well then, now's my que." Aaron said rising from his seat and moving to the exit. He stopped to look back at the group "I wish you good luck in your fight against the Empire." he said respectfully

"I wish you good luck in your new life Aaron." Ezra replied "I hope we'll meet again."

Aaron snorted "I very much doubt it." and without another word he went down the ramp and disappeared into the alleys

"That guy has some serious problems." Zeb noted shacking his head

Their astromech droid hastily came from the cockpit beeping frantically

"Chopper whats going on?" Kanan asked. The droid continued to beep

"Whats he saying?" Zeb asked

"He's saying that there's a transmitter that just activated on our ship!" Sabine replied worried "We gotta find it before going back to the fleet!"

Kanan on the other hand remained awfully calm as he walked out of the shuttle and looked around "I don't think its mandatory to return in this ship." he said pointing somewhere to his left

Everyone quickly went to see what he was pointing at finding a civilian freighter parked right next to them

"Seriously Kanan?" Hera asked

"What? Besides, we could really use another ship."

"I worry about you sometimes..."


End file.
